On Identity And Laser Tag
by Tezla44
Summary: At the end of the school year, the class ruminates on the nature of akumas, Adrien shows a little more of himself to the world, and he and Marinette dominate at laser tag. In progress, likely going to hit 5 chapters.
1. Chapter 1

"You'd better all be there; it wouldn't be total victory if I didn't crush every single one of you." Kim said with a air of confidence, the top-heavy boy gazing at each of his classmates in turn and raising his arms behind his head with a self-assured swagger. He was calling out loudly to the rest of the class, homeroom not yet started but most of them ready in their the day, informing them that he was inviting them all to join him for laser tag the day after school ended for his birthday.

General sounds of agreement rang out throughout Miss Bustier classroom. Max, of course, was the first to announce his intent to attend, declaring that he "was certain his performance in this game would far exceed his sub-optimal performance at paintball last year", but even Nathaniel briefly tore himself away from his sketchbook to give a quite "okay" after a few moments.. Although, first it took Rose frantically "whispering" at him from across the row for him to even notice a conversation was happening.

Marinette nodded a little bit, more for her own benefit than his. The part-time superheroine knew she couldn't really make any promises, but she genuinely did want to be able to attend: After all, she'd managed to attend most of the other birthday parties her classmates held over the course of the school, disregarding the absolute disaster that had been Adrien's incident with the Bubbler and having had to sneak out of the sleepover Rose had held just after the other girls had gone to sleep.

She winced at the memory: It was four in the morning when Hawkmoth had akumatized the Party Animal (a frat boy who was very upset about last call after trying to drink the trauma of a break-up), and she'd nearly fallen asleep in Chat Noir's arms when they'd finally de-evilized him an hour later. Thankfully, the telltale beep of her earrings had jolted her awake enough to remember she had to flee before she turned back from Ladybug into Marinette.

"That would have been a nightmare…" She murmured to herself, biting down on her pencil absentmindedly. Chat Noir had already made several suggestive jokes about her wanting to "snuggle up with your favourite kitty", and she could only imagine how the pun-slinging superhero would have reacted to her turning back into a schoolgirl while snoozing in his arms. She suspected if he pieced together her civilian identity, he'd never leave her alone.

"What would have been a nightmare?" Alya cut in, interrupting her thought process. Marinette blinked a couple times, turning her attention to her red-headed bestie. Her brain quickly and categorically searched for an excuse for her off-hand comment, a process which was nearly second later at this point.

"Oh, uh, we-ell…" She said, pressing her fingertips together in front of her chest, talking with her pencil sticking out of her mouth like a toothpick or lollipop. "I was just thinking about… how I almost came to school today with flour all over my face. From helping with the bakery last night! Yeah, I went to bed last night just covered in it, and then I woke up late and was rushing out of the house when I caught myself in the mirror, and so I rushed back in to wash it off, and… Now here I am! At school, without flour on my face." Marinette explained.

Alya raised an eyebrow, and Marinette could tell from the look on her face that she was processing something: Clearly, she'd found a loose end or logical fallacy in Marinette's explanation. Before she could voice her thoughts, however, a familiar voice chimed in from behind them.

"Hahah, I've almost done something just like that." Adrien said, leaning a little forward in his desk. "Er...Sorry to eavesdrop, you just kind of caught my attention." The blonde boy said sheepishly, not wanting to come across as nosy.

"N-no, no, it's fine, your attention is great! I mean, you attention span is great! I mean I want your atte-...I mean, go...on?" Marinette sputtered, cheeks tinted as red as her Ladybug costume.

Adrien smiled, glad that she wasn't annoyed at him for interrupting their conversation. Granted, she was doing that thing she always did where she got a little carried away with the aggressive compliments and the stuttering, but he was used to it from all his fans, and he knew Marinette in particular was just nervous. They were friends, so it wasn't like she put him on a pedestal, she just...Hadn't totally acclimated to him. At least, that was what he hoped. Either way, best not to acknowledge the first half of her rambling.

"Well, a couple weeks ago, I… Had a long night, and barely got any sleep. So when I was getting ready for the day, I kind of forgot to actually rub my moisturizer into my face, and almost came to school with it just sitting on my face like war paint." He chuckled a little, sheepishly. That had been a _long_ night. He'd been just about to turn in from patrol when an akuma had shown up, as a very exhausted looking Ladybug had informed him over their communicators, and then… Well, after the battle she'd almost collapsed into his arms because of how tired she was. And how could he possibly sleep after something as miraculous as that? No, he'd been up all night thinking about it. About her.

"You moisturize?" Nino said, sliding into the seat next to Adrien and adjusting the brim of his hat. "Dang, dude, that model lifestyle is gonna rip your masculinity to shreds. Didn't you know we men are supposed to have dry, rugged skin?"

It was clear he was joking for the most part, but nevertheless, Alya inevitably shot back, ever the silver-tongued feminist. "Oh, don't listen to him, Agreste. Nino over there is just insecure over the fact his toxic man-pride has him left ashamed of the fact he's never gonna grow any facial hair. Don't worry, buddy, it's okay." She said with a smirk, twisting back in her seat and patting Nino on the shoulder with mock sympathy. The blue-shirted boy rolled his eyes, opening his mouth.

Marinette could feel another one of their little fake-fights brewing, and while she'd ordinarly love to sit back and let the lovebirds bicker, she'd mustered up more of her courage than usual: She was going to keep talking to Adrien! Especially with the safety net of the school bell inevitably approaching. The conversation wouldn't last more than a couple minutes at most, so she wouldn't be able to make too much of a fool of herself… She hoped.

"Oh, well, you know, the moisturizing is great, Adrien. I moisturize too! Just love that moi-...Oh god, where am I going with this. Um, sorry! N-not going to ramble to you about moisturizing, you probably...hear enough about that… from your… make-up artists?" Marinette squeezed her head down into her shoulders, only rising up to meet Adrien's gaze as she finished speaking. Oh, how did she managed to mess up speaking so badly? But he was just gazing down at her with a small smile, ever calm and collected, listening intently. Gosh, that totally infallible nature was one of the reasons she liked him so much.. She couldn't imagine him ever really losing control or cutting too loose. Sure, he'd opened up about himself a couple times, but he was never as blunt or impulsive as, say, Chat…

Adrien, meanwhile, was just happy to hear Marinette trying to get to know him better. And she was right, he didn't really want to have a long and complicated conversation about moisturizer. The fact she recognized that pleased him, because so many people would just make assumptions about his interests… People trying to actually relate to his actual nature always made him feel more… whole. Like he had worth. Just like being Chat Noir.

"You're right, I do hear more about make-up than I really care to." The blonde said, pressing his hands against each other, palms out, and cracking his knuckles. "Not that I'm adverse to hearing your opinions if you really want to tell me about it." Marinette was silent for a couple seconds, mouth agape, so Adrien decided to gracefully transition the topic to something he figured all four of them could talk about. It was more polite to keep the conversational pressure off his class president, after all. "So, are you going to Kim's party, Marinette? It should be fun, and I'm hoping everyone will go...I don't want to lose touch with the class over the summer."

Marinette nodded energetically. Suddenly, her resolve to go the party had doubled. Unless an akuma was tearing through Paris, nothing would stop her! This was her chance to establish contact with Adrien outside of school over the summer...Maybe without Chloe around all the time to interrupt things, she could make some serious progress in wooing him.

"Oh, don't worry, she and I will be there." Alya assured Adrien. "I kick ass at laser tag, and unless an Akuma is tearing through Paris, nothing will stop me! I've got to cover everything for the Ladyblog, after all."

"You know, you'd probably be in the prime spot already all, some people might get pretty pissy if they lose." Nino cut in, scratching his chin. His eyes widened suddenly. "Wait, that'd be seriously bad mojo! Can you imagine it, dudes? It'd have to have lasers, obviously. We'd better make sure we all let Kim win! Don't want him to get over competitive and then transform on us, after all."

"Oh, ha hah, funny guy." Kim said, arms crossed. Nino had gotten too loud, and now the conversation had caught the interest of the entire class. "You know as well as anyone else that I've already been akumatized, and aside from Ivan over there, nobody's been turned more than once!"

"That was only because I was first and Ladybug didn't turn the butterfly white." Ivan answered grumpily, Mylene nodding supportively. "And don't forget, you're the one put me in that mood."

Kim fidgeted a little, looking discomforted at the reminder. He wasn't heartless, after all, so neither Adrien nor Marinette were surprised that he seemed a little guilty. "...Yeah, sorry. That's not what I meant."

"...It's fine." Ivan said, simply. It was clear he meant it.

"Besides, as much as I hate to admit it, I've been akumatized twice as well." Alya said. "Same for Nathaniel."

The red-haired boy looked up from his sketches once more as he heard his name. "Well...That was different, though. The second time was because of that little girl, does that really.. Count?"

A silence fell over the classroom as they puzzled over this question, nobody really certain. Even the two superheroes in the room weren't quite sure. Could Hawkmoth prey on their emotions a second time? Nobody really wanted an answer…

Inevitably, Chloe was the one to break the silence. "Uh, hold on a minute, we're forgetting something. Marinette hasn't been akumatized. She's perfectly liable to go psycho if someone puts her in a bad mood, so if there's anyone to be scared of, it's her. In fact, Kim, uninvite her from your party, she's a danger to us all."

Marinette felt her blood boiling. Chloe, harbinger of akuma after akuma, was going to claim she was the danger? She clenched her first for a second, willing herself to calm down. She had to keep her cool before she chewed Chloe out. After all, she wasn't so sure she was immune to being akumatized, and that would spell certain doom.

Before she could speak up, though, Adrien did.

"I don't think we need to worry, Chlo. Marinette isn't a danger to anyone. Can anyone here really picture her being an akuma?" Adrien asked, glancing around the classroom to find faces that seemed to find reason in his sentiment. "She's always pretty in-control, and I know some of us are too, but...I guess I get the feeling that whatever needs to be there for her to become an akuma just isn't there."

Marinette was nearly swooning. Adrien was saying such wonderful things about her! Adrien was stepping up to defend her! Adrien… hadn't been akumatized either, come to think of it. She allowed herself a small smile. Of course he hadn't. He was better than that.

"T-thanks, Adrien, but… you haven't been one either, at least, I don't think so? Or remember it? I mean, not to say I know ever akuma ever, but it's never b-been mentioned if you have." She says, peppering her speech with uncertainty, pretending she didn't know the identity of every akuma by heart.

"I haven't, no." Adrien admitted. He shrugged, trying to act casual about the fact, sticking his hands deep into his pockets. Even if he was Chat Noir, he privately considered the fact he hadn't been turned by Hawkmoth a matter of luck. Surprisingly good luck, in his case. He knew he had emotions that could be manipulated if pushed in the right matter...After all, that was why he couldn't know who Ladybug is. If his identity was revealed, it wasn't the end of the world. He was expendable. He couldn't purify akuma.

That said...There were two people he honestly believed couldn't be akumatized. The first was his Lady, naturally. Ladybug was far too brave and sincere and heroic and put-together to fall prey to their friendly neighbourhood supervillain. The other… was Marinette. He'd meant what he'd said. He couldn't put a finger on it because he didn't know her that well, but something about her made him believe she wouldn't fall prey to her darker side. In some way, it kind of reminded him of Ladybug. Just a little.

"Well, of course Adriekins hasn't!" Chloe said. "He's far too wonderful for that. But take a look at all the times Marinette has started a fight with me. It's only a matter of time until she's an akuma."

"Oh, yes, definitely." Sabrina agreed, desperate to help Chloe sway the crowd and fulfill her duties as BFF to the mayor's daughter. And it almost worked. Even if everyone knew Marinette didn't start those fights… Well, she got along with Chloe worse than anyone, and Chloe had a well known habit of triggering akuma attacks with her bitchiness...The classroom shared an uneasy moment.

Marinette sunk a little into her seat. If she made her classmates so nervous, maybe she shouldn't go… After all, if she went, fear of her might accidentally turn someone into an akuma… or, god forbid, make her feel so bad she turned herself. No, better to back out now, accept it as a job hazard, and then cope in a healthy manner rather than dwell on it. Maybe she could get Alya and Nino to find her a chance to hang out with Adrien in the summer.

"If it makes you all so nervous, I'll stay home." She said, standing up, tone hard to read. A quiet wave of guilt seemed to wash over her classmates, save Chloe and Sabrina.

"No, Marinette, of course we want you there." Alix began, tugging on the ends of her fuschia hair. "What Chloe is saying is bullshit".

"Of course, Marinette. We're not scared of you or anything, I promise." Mylene chimed in, despite the admittedly somewhat uncertain look on her face.

Marinette cut her off. "Alix, Mylene don't worry about it. I can read your faces. I don't blame you for being kind of scared about this. I'll be fine, so… Everyone just enjoy Kim's party. Who knows, maybe Ladybug and Chat Noir will beat Hawkmoth for good by the end of the week. If that happens, then I'll go." She said, shrugging.

Adrien's heart sank. What was Marinette doing? From anyone else, he'd suspect this was false assurances, and he'd be preparing to find a spot to go transform in the next few minutes...But he could feel sincerity in her words. She wasn't honestly about to sacrifice her enjoyment, just to reassure her classmates, with no regrets.

He stood up before he knew what he was doing, speaking in a louder voice than anyone in the class had heard the quiet model verbalize in before. "Marinette, no." He began, concern seeping through his voice, an undercurrent in his authoritative tone. "That's not fair to you, and it's not fair of Chloe to be accusing you." He shot a glance at his long-time friend, who looked more than a little displeased at his sudden outburst. "You're not a bigger risk than anyone else here, and you're definitely not a bigger risk than me. Neither of us have been an akuma, so we shouldn't be treated any differently. Kim, I'm sorry, but I'm not going to go unless Marinette goes." He said with an apologetic look at the birthday boy, who nodded.

Adrien lowered himself back down, laying a hand on Marinette's shoulder. She'd turned to look at him with a look in her eyes that he didn't quite know how to describe. Relief? Awe? Confusion? "...I'm serious, Marinette. Even if you still don't want to go, I'm going to insist that we hang out that day instead. You shouldn't be alone when everyone else is having fun."

Marinette took a deep breath. Adrien, wonderful Adrien, had just...He'd just done that. For her. And he'd done it by...He'd seemed to lose control of his own restraint, but taken control of the situation. She'd never seen him do anything like that before. Normally he seemed so in control of himself, but so capable of going with the flow of the world around him. This…

This was something that her silly kitty partner would have done. It was impulsive and loud, and it was to support her. And in the same way Ladybug and Chat Noir supported each other, she needed to support Adrien now. He'd surely want to go to Kim's party, not just spend the day with her...Plus, she'd probably have a heart attack at the prospect of an entire day with him. Oh god. Oh god, his hand was still on her shoulder and it felt so soft over her pull-over and she needed words, brain, give her words.

"O-okay, Adrien. We'll go, I mean, I'll go, I mean, you and I will go but not like, to-together for any reason, how would we go together, silly me." She stammered out.

"I mean… We could go together, if you like." He said, an earnest tone in his voice. He knew he was being louder than usual, and going beyond the usual bounds of affability he normally presented, but… Adrien wanted to let someone see the other sides of him. The sides he let loose when he was Chat Noir. Nino had seen some of those parts, and maybe Marinette should too. "I know your bakery is on the way to the venue, so I could meet you there on the way?"

"...Okay." Marinette squeaked out. Before she could say anything else or allow her brain to go on another wild ride of panicked emotions, the school bell rang. Miss Bustier was running late for some reason, and they could hear her footsteps clattering down the hall. The class settled back down into the seats, Adrien included.

But, before the teacher entered the classroom, Max offered one final thought. "Eighty five point seven percent of this class has been akumatized." He announced.

"...I think we have problems." Juleka said, but with Miss Bustier entering the room and closing the door, nobody had time to acknowledge her first words of the day.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hey guys! This chapter ended up both longer than I expected and getting finished much quicker than I expected. I can't help it, I'm just way too obsessed with this show and these two nerds right now. I have way too many ideas. Also, I just want to thank everyone who has f** **avorited** **, followed, and especially reviewed so far! It's really appreciated and it really helps motivation. As of right now, I have four chapters loosely planned, but that might get extended to five depending on how plot threads get split up. Anyway, enjoy!**

"Tikki, what do I wear? WHAT DO I WEAR?" Marinette asked frantically, rummaging through her closet. Her floor was a mess, covered in everything from flowery sundresses to comfortable track pants, and her kwami had to swerve to and fro in the air to avoid being nailed by a pair of socks as her charge desperately searched through her wardrobe.

"Marinette, I really don't think it matters." Her guide answered sincerely, voice high and cheery as ever. "You should probably wear something comfortable that you can move in if this "laser tag" is the kind of game I think it is, but I know that's not what you talking about. I don't think Adrien is going to judge you based on how you look."

"Oh, not on purpose, he's way too sweet for that. But Tikki, everyone has opinions on outfits, that's why fashion is a thing!" Marinette answered. "And Adrien is a model, so he definitely is going to have more active thoughts than most people! And the only things I know for sure he likes is, well, is the hat I made! ...Oh god, but nothing I have goes with it, I need to completely design and make a new outfit in like twenty minutes!" The girl spun on her heel, groaning in frustration as she started towards her desk. She stopped after a second, clutching her head in frustration. "No, I don't have time for that! I should call Alya…"

"Marinette, stop." Tikki said, gently but firmly, floating up to the panicked teen and pressing a finger to her nose. "You're better than this kind of panic. Just wear your usual style, you're always comfortable in that. Maybe wear shorts and skip on a second layer, since it's so warm out, but honestly you're fine. You're already panicked enough just from the thought of seeing Adrien one-on-one on the way there. Don't add extra stress by trying to change your looks on top of that."

"...You're right." Marinette said with a deep breath, trying to settle down and let the tension flood out of her body. She smiled appreciatively at her partner. Tikki always was a voice of reason. "Even if it would be nice to, say, wear one of my old pairs of earrings again." She teased gently.

"Oh, shush." Tikki said with a giggle, floating back down towards Marinette's purse, laying open on the edge of her bed. "Now get dressed, unless you want another incident where he rings the doorbell before you're ready."

Marinette groaned. "You're right… Replacing that photo frame cost like ten and a half euro."

Elsewhere, Adrien was frantically combing out his hair, trying to smooth it down after a hasty shower. "Aww man, c'mon, tidy up!" He instructed his blonde locks as he peered intently in the mirror. He'd had to shift a photo shoot to earlier in the day to make time for Kim's party, and the studio lights had been unusually hot that day, especially with the warm weather flooding over Paris. And when you combined that with the fact he'd been modeling the new Agreste line of plaid overshirts, and the fact he was a growing teenage boy, Adrien had felt pretty grimy and sweaty by the time it was done.

"Plagg, pass me that hair gel?" He instructed his kwami, who was lying nestled between the faucet and the wall, enjoying the cool feeling of the metal sink faucet in the hot air. Plagg merely grunted noncommittally, eyes shut. With a sigh, Adrien put down his comb and grabbed the gel, before a smirk crossed his delicate features. He turned on the tap, cranking the hot water to bust, before squeezing out a healthy amount of gel into his hand. It might have been a waste of water, but it was with it to see Plagg shoot up suddenly into the air as his previously luxurious spot turned into a hellishly warm nightmare.

"Was that really necessary, Adrien?" Plagg groaned, glaring at the model.

"Ehh, not really. But it was funny." He answered with a grin, smoothing out his hair. "There, that's better. Still a little messy, but at least now I don't look like I just rolled out of bed."

"You look just like that when you haven't been to bed at all, actually. Without all those weird products, your hair looks just like when you're Chat Noir." Plagg pointed out. Adrien pursed his lips in surprise.

"Really?" He asked, tapping a finger on his chin. He stared at the mirror, examining himself. "...I never notice, but you might have a point! Weird to think that I'm actually more handsome when I'm not trying." He said with a grin. Chat Noir might not be a model, but he certainly felt better looking as his alter ego. Of course, maybe that was just because he felt a lot more natural and comfortable in the leather suit than in his own skin.

"Must be my influence." Plagg said, zipping into Adrien's pocket. "Now can we go? The sooner you get to Marinette's bakery, the sooner I can sneak some baked goods. Of course, camembert would be better, but I can live with cookies."

"Alright, alright." Adrien said, adjusting the collar on his white overshirt...He frowned, pulling it over his head and tossing it to his bedroom floor. "Nah, too warm for that." He posed in the mirror for a second. He'd opted for a V-neck today: Not his usual style, but he really did feel too warm in his usual clothes. "Much better." He said, turning to make the long trek out of his bedroom and to the front door.

"Oh, and Plagg? Steal anything from the Dupain-Cheng bakery, and you're not getting cheddar for a month, let alone camembert." He chastised.

"Fiiiine, but you'd better make sure I get something to snack on today, unless you want to leave Paris totally undefended in case of akuma attack." Came a grumbling in his pocket.

"I'll get you something at the party, I promise. Just nothing from the bakery, at least nothing I haven't paid for." Adrien said. Marinette's parents had been so polite and welcoming when he'd went over to play video games with Marinette earlier in the year, and he'd hate to take advantage of them like that.

"Alright, alright. Tikki always liked baked goods better than me anyway." Plagg said.

Adrien looked down at him, emerald eyes widening a little bit as he made his way down the hall towards his foyer. "Tikki? Who's Tikki?"

"Ladybug's kwami." Plagg said disinterestedly. "What, I haven't mentioned her before?"

"No, you haven't." Adrien said, climbing down the stairs. He was going to ask more, anxious to know more about his Lady, even if indirectly, when he was interrupted by Nathalie's heels clacking on the polished floors of his home. He'd have to file this information away for later, even if he suspected more details would come only with large bribes of stinky cheese.

"You're leaving now, Adrien?" Nathalie said, her tone neutral. He could feel her sizing him up, making sure he was in a presentable state for public consumption. He didn't begrudge her, knowing it was only because of his father that she judged him like that.

"Yes. I'll be home in time for a good night of sleep before fencing tomorrow morning. Father approved earlier; nothing has changed, right?" He said, a small portion of the anxiety that inevitably sank in whenever he was trying to escape his tight schedule for social calls audible in his voice. He'd hate if he had to bail now. Especially after the show he'd made for Marinette. God, he'd be such a jerk!

"No, you're still allowed to go. You should take a minute to fix your hair, though. It's not quite neat." Nathalie said. "And really, you should let yourself be driven."

Adrien sighed, half in relief, half frustrated at her suggestions. Normally, neither would be such a big deal, but…

"I'm sorry, I really tried to fix my hair but it's just not working today." He said, apologetically. "And it would be rude of me to keep Marinette waiting. If I was late, and that spread throughout my class, and then my school, it'd reflect worse on Father than my hair being just a tad out of shape." He reasoned, doing his best not to appear argumentative. Now wasn't the time to push things too far, but he figured he could get what he wanted if he was careful.

"...Alright, Adrien." Nathalie said, glancing down at her clipboard. "I know your Father was very pleased with the results of today's session, so I suppose a little leniency isn't uncalled for today."

"Thank you." Adrien said earnestly, hurrying to the door before anything could interrupt him. "I won't be able to check my phone between five and six, so please don't worry if you can't reach me!" He called out as the door swung shut behind him, before his father's assistant could reply.

It was a about a fifteen minute walk to Marinette's at a casual pace. He was supposed to be there in ten. He wondered for a moment if he should have taken the offer of a ride, but Adrien shook his head after a second. No, that'd just be intimidating and uncomfortable for Marinette. He might be fine with The Gorilla by now, but he knew his chauffeur was still scary to most people. Marinette was by no means a coward, but she always seemed a little off-balance around him, so… Maybe that would change things. He wasn't sure.

He also debated transforming into Chat Noir and going for a rooftop run to get to the bakery, but that'd tire out Plagg for no reason, force him to find a safe spot to turn back, and just generally seemed like a small abuse of his super powers. As much appeal as the ideal held, it wasn't for the best.

So instead, he ran. His sneakers pounded on the sidewalk. His hair bounced ever so slightly as he soared down the city street, settling into a quick, comfortable rhythm. His time fighting evil-doers had left him relatively fit; even if his miraculous allowed him to do all the flipping around and cane-slinging, his muscles were still getting a workout. And even before that, fencing had given him a solid base to start with.

He took a deep breath, letting the air and sunlight refresh him as he soared down the lovely streets of Paris on that warm afternoon. Maybe he shouldn't be running. Maybe his Father would hear about his undignified actions and scold him later. But he didn't care. Summer was here, and he had to cut himself some slack, had to start being more like the alley cat he truly was, impulsive and free.

Marinette caught sight of him gliding down the city streets from the window of the bakery, and she nearly did a double take. She'd never seen him running before, except during akuma attacks. ...Did he almost just run into that old lady? Was that really Adrien? He looked so carefree. And fit. Wow, he didn't even seem that out of breath.

Shaking herself out of her reverie, Marinette quickly headed for the door. She'd been waiting there rather than in her bedroom so that Adrien wouldn't come inside; as much as she loved her parents, she didn't want to risk Adrien being alone with them. They might get a little _too_ nosy. She stepped outside just as Adrien glided to a stop, his breath hitching a little as his heart rate started to drop.

"Hi, Marinette. Sorry I'm running a little bit late, it took me a little longer to get ready than normal." Adrien apologized, laying one hand against the windows of the bakery as he took deep lungfuls of air, catching his breath. He tugged a little at his collar, trying to let the fresh air flow down his shirt.

Marinette took notice of that as well, eyes tracing his collarbone...He looked good in a V-neck. It threw her off for a second, but she quickly remembered that responding to his statement would be the normal thing for a human being to do. "I-It's fine! I wasn't waiting for you. Um, long, that is. I wasn't waiting for you long. And getting ready paid off! You look good...I-Is that a new che- a new t-shirt?"

Adrien nodded. "Yeah, it's part of our new summer line. It's nice and cool, breathable fabrics. I like your outfit too, though, Marinette!" He complimented her automatically, without thinking. It was just in his nature to return those types of statements, but once it slipped past his lips… Adrien took a second to look over her. He'd never seen her in shorts before, and even though she wasn't his Bugaboo, he had to admit, she looked nice. Her legs were toned, and her short-sleeved tank top demonstrated a lithe sort of muscle in her arms. Adrien had come to terms with the fact he had a thing for fit girls in the past year or so. After all, Ladybug definitely was.

"Do you work out, Marinette?" Adrien asked suddenly as he straightened up. Marinette blinked: Where had this question come from? Fumbling, she searched for an answer. She certainly got plenty of exercise fighting akuma. And sometimes, it could be enjoyable. Or at the very least exhilarating. But what did Adrien want to hear? That she did? That she didn't? She cleared her throat.

"Um, oh, you could say that I do. Mostly, uh, cardio?" She said, raising an eyebrow. She couldn't let herself get into a mess until at least halfway through the walk, she decided. Self-control. Self-control, Marinette.

Adrien smiled a little. "I figured. It shows! Are we talking running, swimming?" He asked. He tried to read Marinette's face to figure out how she felt about this line of conversation, but she turned and started walking. Well, that made sense, they did have somewhere to be. Then again, it was only three thirty: They weren't expected til four thirty or so, and the walk was only about forty minutes. He followed after her, his long legs easily keeping pace with the shorter girl.

"Uh...Running. S-swimming on rare occasions. Sometimes… gymnastics?" Marinette said, doing her best to vaguely allude to her hobbies. She supposed to most apt description would be "parkour" or "martial arts", but she really didn't want to get the idea she went gallivanting around Paris rooftops or sparring in hand to hand combat. That may have been the case for Ladybug, but it definitely wasn't characteristic of her civilian self, and she wasn't even certain she was capable of feats requiring even a tenth of the strength or finesse Ladybug relied on.

"Oh man, I didn't know you were in gymnastics. Do you compete?" Adrien asked, taking a few long strides and catching up to her, now walking side by side with the pigtailed girl. He peered at her curiously, seeing her in a whole new light. He'd always thought Marinette was kind of clumsy, but maybe she was graceful if she concentrated?

Marinette flushed red as she noticed his gaze, trying her best to think of additional details to explain why she wasn't exactly a trained gymnast. Ugh, having to lie to him about so much of her life was frustrating! Especially when he was showing so much genuine interest in her!

She opened her mouth to speak, but it quickly turned into a yelp of concern as one shoe caught on the laces of the other and she stumbled forward. Adrien started towards her, trying to cach her before Marinette hit the ground, but her instincts kicked in: As the ground rushed towards her, she quickly turned it into a somersault, rolling forward and rising back up.

Adrien blinked. Whatever kind of response he'd been expecting, it wasn't that. It'd seemed like an accident, but then that move had seemed too well-practiced.

"Nice demonstration?" He offered up neutrally, quirking an eyebrow. He tried to leave just enough of a lilt in his voice to leave it unclear if he was asking a question or not, in case it actually had been meant as a demonstration. In that case, he supposed, it had been a poor start with an excellent follow-through. Not that he had any professional experience in judging gymnastics, just a rough metric from a year of backflipping on rooftops.

"Er, I guess that kind of shows off what I was going to say. I'm not f-formally trained, I just have some good reflexes that kick in when I really need them." Marinette explained, rubbing her right forearm with her left hand. "And that's more than you'd think it could possibly come up.

"You'd be surprised." Adrien said, allowing himself a small smile. "But, if you're okay, we should keep moving." He pressed onwards, Marinette following at his side after a quick nod to confirm she was fine. "After all, being out on the streets of Paris is risky these days, even on an afternoon as nice as this one. You never know when we're going to need Ladybug to save us."

He was prodding the conversation purposefully towards his favourite topic: Ladybug, of course. He knew from asking her after the Evillustrator incident that she thought Chat Noir was quote unquote cool (which was something he was particularly pleased to hear), but even though her best friend was Ladybug's number two fan, he'd never really heard Marinette offer up opinions on the red-and-black clad superheroine.

Marinette, meanwhile, was more than a little pleased herself to hear Adrien talking about her alter-ego so favourably. She tried not to let this show in her voice as she responded. "I guess you don't. She's helped you a couple times, r-right? What did you think of her?"

"She's...inspiring." Adrien said after a couple of seconds, a blissful expression on his face. It'd taken him a moment to decide on which word most encapsulated his Lady, the one who'd saved him more times than Marinette could possibly know. "She's so- That is, she seems so strong, and the way she always saved the day all by herself is just amazing. I don't know how she does it." He gushed, unconsciously spinning his ring on his finger with his other hand, clinging to the one object that allowed him a connection with Ladybug.

Marinette was torn. On one hand, Adrien really seemed to admire Ladybug, and that meant he admired her. She wasn't sure what had impressed him so much, given even in costume she'd been nervous and bashful. But on the other hand… Didn't Adrien need to give Chat Noir some credit too? Her Chaton had done just as much good work in protecting the city. They were partners, and something about the way Adrien was acting like Ladybug was the only one doing any work actually kind of irked her. It was the first time anything Adrien had said bothered her.

"Well...I d-don't think that's fair to say." She said with a little reluctance. Hopefully Adrien wouldn't be too mad at her disagreement, but this needed to be said. She caught him giving her a surprised look, and her voice became a little defensive, a little hasty. "Not that Ladybug isn't good, but it seems to me l-like she needs Chat Noir. I don't think she could save Paris without him… Di-didn't he help save you too?"

Adrien was caught off-guard. Marinette really seemed to have respect for Chat Noir. Respect for him. Maybe he had been somewhat self-deprecating there, maybe he deserved a little more credit than he gave himself. In any case, it had been considerate and caring of her to try and make sure his role hadn't been downplayed.

"You're right, I'm sorry." Adrien said apologetically. "I've just seen Ladybug more than him, and we've never really spoke, so I didn't have as strong _felines_ about the guy, Marinette." He said. The cat pun had been nearly unconcious. Nearly.

Marinette snickered despite herself. Had Adrien really just made a cat pun while talking about the leather-clad kitten? Sure, he had made that joke about _knightmares_ after the Darkblade incident, but she didn't take him for a habitual punster… There really was more to him than she'd realized, she acknowledged to herself. A bit of guilt bubbled in her gullet. Had she been idolizing him unfairly? He was human, of course he'd make jokes sometimes.

"A-alright, that's fair." Marinette admitted. "On behalf of Chat Noir, I'll acc-accept that apology. Still, it's weird you've spoken to one and not the other." Although, she wasn't certain she could imagine a conversation between the two boys. It'd be just too surreal. What would they say to each other? If she was lucky, Chat would bring up something about digging black-haired, blue-eyed girls, and Adrien would abruptly realize he had the same preferences. Wouldn't that be a dream?

"Well, what about you? I know that when everything with Nathaniel went down, you met Chat Noir. Has Ladybug ever had a proper conversation with you?" He questioned. To his knowledge, the two girls had never spoken, but he was painfully aware that he didn't know everything Ladybug said or did. He wasn't about to make any assumptions.

"Uh, no, not really." Marinette said with a shake of her head. "I guess the two of them are too busy to sit around making conversation with civilians." She suggested. As much as she'd love to try and get Adrien to continue praising her secret self, it was honestly too stressful to try and add keeping her identities separate on top of talking to him in general.

"I suppose so." Adrien agreed.

They fell into a short silence as they continued walking, neither one entirely certain what topic to bring up next. Adrien couldn't tell if it was a comfortable silence or not. Normally, they had Nino and Alya as facilitators, but without them around Adrien was a little uncertain about what to bring up. His ability to socialize like a normal teenager came in fits and spurts, and with just Marinette around, the tap was running a little dry. Unlike when he was Chat Noir, in which case it came in fits and s _purr_ ts.

Marinette turned her head. Was Adrien giggling about something? She glanced around frantically. Had something funny just happened around them? She noticed a small child, maybe 8 or 9, crying across the street, staring forlornly at an ice cream cone which he had unceremoniously dropped to the ground. Surely Adrien didn't think _that_ was funny? It had to be something else.

Adrien, meanwhile, had gotten distracted working on his repertoire of cat puns. Or re _purr_ toire, as it were. It wasn't until Marinette gently nudged him that he looked down with her. "Oh, s-sorry, what's up?" Adrien said. Had he been ignoring her?

"Um, you w-were laughing about something." Marinette said. Her gaze flashed uncertainly towards the kid on the other side of the street. Adrien followed her eyes and spotted the kid, instantly making the connection. He flashed red hot.

"Oh, n-no, not at that! That's cla- I mean, that's awful." Adrien said hurriedly. He glanced both ways, making sure no traffic was coming before he darted off towards the kid. Marinette hurried after him.

"Sor-sorry, I wasn't, I didn't think you were laughing at that!" She hurriedly apologized. She really, really hadn't. She just wanted to know what he was chuckling about, and maybe ask him if they could stop to comfort the kid…

"Don't worry about it." Adrien said as they reached the other side of the street. The kid looked up at them as they crouched down in front of them, sniffling loudly, arms crossed in a defensive posture.

"D-don't tell me to stop crying! I know it's only ice cream! I'll cr-cry if I wanna…I'm not a crybaby!" The kid blurted out uncontrollably. Marinette and Adrien shared a look. Clearly, someone had been trying to get this kid to control his emotions before now. They were looking back down at him when Marinette spotted it from the corner of her eye.

An akuma. A dark fuschia butterfly fluttering down the street towards the child.

" _Adrien!"_ She hissed under her breath, urgently. Adrien looked back towards her. His eyes widened as he caught sight of the akuma approaching, and he quickly turned back towards the child.

"Hey, hey, it's not like that. We're not here to tell you you can't cry." He said, his voice calm and soothing, full of understanding. Marinette felt her heart skip a beat. Adrien was trying to stop the akuma from possessing him by helping his problems! Why hadn't she thought of that?

"Every-everyone else does." The boy said, rubbing the sleeve of his shirt on his snotty nose.

She placed a hand supportively on the boys' shoulder, looking him right in his tear-lidded eyes, her other hand reaching into her back pocket for a spare bit of fabric that would make do as a makeshift hankee.. "Yeah. Nobody has the right to tell you you can't cry if that's how you feel. You shouldn't bottle up how you feel, and being honest about your emotions is good for you." She offered up the blue cloth, helping the kid blow his nose.

"I gu-guess so." He said, sounding uncertain. Marinette held her breath. The akuma had paused just behind his head, hovering in place. It was only about six inches away, but it wasn't going for any of the child's possessions.

"And hey, if you'll show us where you got the ice cream, I'll buy you another one, I promise." Adrien said, flashing a compassionate smile. The child brightened up instantly into a smile, and he nodded enthusiastically. Both of the part-time superheroes had to stifle a gasp as the akuma behind his head abruptly shattered, shards of purple fading away as a white butterfly appeared in it's place and flew of.

"L-lead the way!" Adrien hurriedly said to the kid, who quickly began strolling down the street towards the ice cream cart he'd purchased his treat from him. Marinette and Adrien followed a few feet behind, walking considering closer to each other than they had been, close enough to whisper to each other.

"D-Did that really just happened? Did we really just prevent an akuma attack by calming the victim down before he could get evilized?" Marinette said in amazement. This was revolutionary information!

"I think we did." Adrien said, equally in awe. He'd have to tell Ladybug the next time he saw her! This could change the name of the game if they used it to their advantage, he was sure of it. "Hey, I guess we obsoleted Ladybug and Chat Noir." He joked.

"I wouldn't say that, but we definitely did their job this time." Marinette said. Oh, if Adrien only knew that Ladybug had still been involved in saving the day…

"In that case, what's that thing they do?" Adrien said, holding up his fist. "Pound it, I believe they say?"

Marinette nodded. "Even I know that, Adrien." She lifted her own fist and bumped it against his.

In unison, two voice painfully unaware of the dramatic irony rang out. "Pound it!"

They arrived at the ice cream cart a couple minutes later. Thankfully, it had been on their route anyway, so the detour to comfort the child didn't kill more time than they could spare on their walk. Adrien bought the kid the most expensive ice cream he could, five scoops piled high with whipped cream, sprinkles, chocolate sauce, and anything else the boy could have wanted.

"His parents are going to hate you, you know. And then I'm going to have to fig- have to flee from an akuma obsessed with dental hygiene." Marinette said. She'd stopped overthinking her every word around Adrien, and it allowed her inner sarcasm to shine through beautifully.

"Maybe, but that'd just make for a particularly _filling_ day, don't you think?" Adrien asked. To his delight, Marinette snickered. She had a pretty laugh, he decided. Not that'd ever fully far to the charms of someone besides his Lady. But he was a mostly heterosexual 14 year old boy, so he allowed himself the leniency of occasionally finding other girls slightly attractive. Not as stunning as Ladybug, of course. Although Marinette was coming closer than other girls… He had a thing for pigtails. "Oh, do you want an ice cream?" He offered, electing not to pursue that line of thought any further.

Marinette shook her head. "You already spent a fair bit on that boy, I don't want to, uh, take advantage of your generosity." She politely declined. She knew Adrien could afford it, but she couldn't help but say no to at least his initial offer. It was just her upbringing.

"Oh, I don't mind!" He assured her. "I wanted to get one for myself, so it'd be rude to not get you one, and besides, I honestly love getting things for other people. It's really satisfying to see someone smiling because they like a gift you gave them, isn't it?" The blonde asked.

Marinette nodded. "I know what you mean. And, if you insist, I'll take _Death by Chocolate_ with chocolate sauce and chocolate sprinkles, please." She said, half towards Adrien and half towards the proprietor of the cart..

"Someone likes chocolate, I see." Adrien said, then turned towards the vendor. "Can I also get _Strawberry Chocolate Chunk_ with strawberry sauce?"

"Sure thing, kids." He said, preparing their cones in short order and delivering them to the kids. "It's on the house. I know I sold that kid something earlier, so you must have been replacing it for him. So, a gift for the good samaritans." He said with a chuckle, passing the cones to Adrien.

"Thanks, monsieur!" They chimed out in unison. With a thankful nod, they set off down the street.

"Enjoy your date!" The man said as they walked away, but the loud noise of a delivery truck passing by kept the two from hearing him. He quickly turned his attention to another customer who had arrived, but for a solid ten minutes, he was fondly reminiscing of his own experiences in young love.

"Oh, I've still got yours." Adrien said as they turned the corner. He leaned to the side a tad to pass the black-haired girl her cool treat, but as the pitch-black ice cream passed from his hand to hers, his own red-and-black cone slipped from his other hand to the ground with a splat. Adrien stopped dead in his tracks.

"Oh, Adrien, you rea-" Marinette paused as she looked up at his expression. A monumental frown had settled across his normally cheerful features. "Adrien?" She said uncertainly.

A single tear rolled down his cheek, and Marinette gasped.

"Oh, no, Adrien! Don't cry! We can go back and get more!" She exclaimed. He was too pretty to cry! Too pretty and too sweet and too funny!

Slowly, he broke out into a grin. Marinette knit her brow in confusion. "Adrien?" She said.

"Sorry, Marinette." He said, apologetically. "I thought the single tear would be a funny overreaction. Or underreaction."

"Adrien!" She said, flicking him on the nose. "You had me thinking I was gonna have to keep you from bawling like that little boy!"

"Ow! Sorry, sorry!" He answered, good-naturedly. He rubbed at his nose. He'd never seen Marinette so calm around him, this was wonderful! She'd even gotten annoyed at him in a friendly kind of way.

"...You can cry on command?" Marinette asked after a moment, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"Had to learn for a photoshoot." Adrien explained. "And in my defence, I did really want that ice cream. This is kind of disappointing." He said with a small sigh and a resigned shrug, giving it once last glance before continuing onwards towards the party.

Marinette looked down at her own cone, taking a small little lick. This was it. This was her chance. It was now or never, do or die, sink or swim, something or something else! She'd been doing such a good job today of actually getting to know him, this was just a friendly act, and she was going to do it!

"...wecansharemine." She mumbled, shyly. Adrien blinked.

"Sorry, I didn't quite catch that." He said apologetically.

"...We. We can share. Mine. If that's c-cool." She asserted with a deep breath. Adrien looked taken aback at the offer, and she was about to quickly tell him to forget she'd said anything when he smiled.

"Yes, please! If you don't mind." He said, holding out his hand. Marinette passed him the cone, and they continued on their way, passing the delicious dessert back and forth.

When they finally arrived at the party venue, crossing through the automatic doors into the lobby where most of the rest of their homeroom classmates were assembled in their summer clothes, they were chattering comfortably. They glanced around, called out a quick "happy birthday" to Kim, and beelined towards Nino and Alya.

Just before they reached their friends, Alya and Nino spotted the tell-tale ice cream stains at the corner of their mouths, the strange lack of distance between them as they walked, and the unusual way that Marinette seemed at ease while right next to Adrien.

"Do you see what I'm seeing, girl?" Nino asked Alya, under his breath.

"Oh, I see it." Alya said with a mischievous smirk. "And I see _potential_."


	3. Chapter 3

"So...What exactly is it you needed to talk to us about, Nino?" Adrien asked, scratching his head. Nino had suddenly called him and Marinette back outside to privately discuss something, leaving the rest of the class (barring Chloe and Sabrina, who were presumably making a point of being dramatically late) inside the venue.

Nino took a deep breath. And then another. And a third. Marinette and Adrien stared at him. In truth, he didn't actually have anything to tell them, Alya had just discreetly sent him an aggressively persuasive text demanding he get them out of the room for a couple minutes. He privately cursed her. She knew he was a terrible liar! What was he supposed to say?

"Are..you okay, Nino? You're hyperventilating." Marinette said, slowly. Nino nodded.

"Yup. Yup, yup, totally. I'm fine. I'm fiiiine."

"Are you sure, buddy?" Adrien said, putting a supportive hand on Nino's shoulder.

"...Nope! Nope, nope, not at all. I'm panicking. I'm wildly panicking." Nino said. What was he panicking about? How was he going to justify this strange reaction? Whatever it is, it'd have to be something big!

"What's wrong, Nino? You're really like acting like yourself." Marinette continued. "You can talk to us, we're here for you. Are you having a problem?" Even if he wasn't quite as close to her as Alya, Marinette still couldn't help but feel a certain amount of protectiveness for the poor boy, beyond her usual compassion.

"I am having a problem, yes. I'm having a problem for sure! I, uh…"

Nino paused for a moment, shut his eyes, and said the most embarrassing thing he'd uttered in the first fifteen years of his life. It wouldn't be for another nine years, when he would respond to a newlywed friend's announcement of "I'm pregnant" with an "It's his, right?" right in front of her husband, that he would manage to top the sheer shame of this moment. (He would never be quite sure why he'd have any reason to ask that, but at least Marinette and Adrien would have the grace to never bring it up. Alya, on the other hand…)

Meanwhile, inside of the "Leroy Brothers Action Tag Company" lobby, Alya had gathered together the class in a loose conspiratorial circle. The amateur reporter glanced towards the front door to make sure Nino was still effectively running interference, before speaking up. "Alright guys. You may be wondering why I've gathered you all here today."

"Uh, my birthday party?" Kim said, crossing his arms and looking at Alya. She smiled sheepishly.

"Yes, of course. Sorry. Not trying to overshadow your big day. But if you don't mind, I'd like your permission to implement "Operation Wailing Alpaca"?" She said earnestly. Rose gasped, and Juleka's eyes widened.

"Wait, I thought that was the one where next time we see Chat Noir, we try to convince him to use his sick parkour skills to deliver pizza to us?" Alix asked. "Because frankly I think providing pizza is Kim's responsibility today."

"Negatory. Alya dubbed that plan of attack "Operation Soaring Sausage"." Max explained. Alya nodded her assent. "I believe "Wailing Alpaca" is the plan within which we attempt to play cupid for Marinette and Adrien?"

"Right you are, Max. Marinette and Adrien are acting unusually close today, and I think we only need a few gentle nudges to set them up." Alya said.

"Alya, you know we all want Marinette to be happy, but isn't this kind of unfair with the betting pool and all?" Mylene asked. She was referring to a long-standing debate between the class over whether Adrien and Marinette or Ladybug and Chat Noir would show some signs of a romantic relationship first. Cumulatively, between the class, nearly two hundred euros were wagered on the subject.

Alya shook her head dismissively. "Under the extenuating circumstances of outside interference, all wagers are waived should Marinette and Adrien be pushed together or, I suppose, irrevocably parted by the effects of "Operation Wailing Alpaca"." She paused for a second. "Well, except Ivan's 5% bookkeeping fee. I can't waive that considering how much work he's already done."

Ivan shrugged. "It's not a big deal. If the bet gets cancelled, it's not really fair of me to keep the money."

Nathaniel shook his head. "It's not fair for us to take it back after you did all that math, though."

"Yeah...it's only like two euros from each of us." Juleka agreed. She'd mumbled a little bit, but by now most of the class could confidently decipher her even when she was quiet. Not Chloe, admittedly, but when did Chloe pay attention to anyone?

"Yeah, use it to take Mylene somewhere nice." Alya said. "Now, the question is, is everybody in? I've got Nino keeping them distracted outside, but let's be real, he can only hold their attention for so long."

It wasn't more than a brief moment before general agreement rang out through her schoolmates. "Alright, good. We're gonna make this happen, guys!"

"But Alya." Rose began, "How are we going to make it happen? We all know how resistant Marinette is to admitting how she feels about Adrien, and I'm not so sure Adrien is actively crushing on Marinette."

"He's not." Alya admitted, hands on her hips. "But Nino assures me that Marinette is totally his type if we can just get dear, sweet Marinette to confess to him. And we might not even have to do that. After all, love is known to blossom on the battlefield." She grinned mischievously.

"Adrenaline-based attraction is a noted psychological phenomena, but it's not really a solid basis for a relationship." Max commented. "Then again, this is more so simply using adrenaline to augment and intensify long-standing emotions...It could be viable."

"Damn straight it's viable." Alya said. "So, we just need to make sure Marinette and Adrien work together as much as possible. Try to get them on the same teams, direct them to engage in combat maneuvers together, etc etc. And yes, I know we'll have to do the contractually obligated boys versus girls game, but aside from that."

"As long as we're not violating the integrity of the competition, I'm fine with this." Kim said.

"Yeah, I need to be able to kick Kim's ass fair and square." Alix chimed in. The host of the party turned towards the pink-haired girl, but the universe conveniently cut off their argument as Marinette, Adrien and Nino re-entered the lobby. All three of them were staring at the ground, faces blushing deeply, Nino most of all.

"Everything...good?" Alya asked, holding back a knowing smirk. This was about what she had expected, but it would probably be best if Nino didn't realize she'd sent him out on a suicide mission for his dignity.

"Fine! Fine, everything's fine." Nino said, hastily.

"Yup. One hundred percent fine. Fine as fine can be." Marinette agreed.

"So fine that _nobody in this room is going to ask any questions about the conversation we just had ever._ ". Nino instructed. Confused, the other students let the subject drop, and the three shuffled over to the rest of the group. Nino gave Alya a pointedly dirty look as her joined her at her side.

"Is ev-everyone here now?" Adrien asked, eager for a new conversational topic to cleanse his brain. Maybe the mindless action of laser tag would refresh his mind. Or maybe they'd be real lasers and he could die and that would be just as good.

"Everyone but Chloe and Sabrina." Kim said. "But I don't think they're coming, to be honest. Probably to protest the fact Marinette came. Or they're afraid of breaking their nails. Either way, we're not going to wait for them."

Marinette sighed. "And here I was, looking forward to gunning them down with little to no remorse. Oh well."

That elicited a few chuckles from the assembled students, and in short order they were approached by a staff member and ushered into a preparatory room.

"Alright, so! We've got a couple different rule-sets you guys can go for: Free for All Elimination, Team Elimination, Capture the Flag, Juggernaut." The tall, tattoo-covered and heavily beard employee explained, once he had gone over the safety rules and the basics of the gun-and-vest set-ups. "It's a slow day, there's only one other group here right now, so you guys pretty much have your pick of the arenas and therefor the game types."

Kim considered this for a moment thoughtfully. They'd probably have enough time for a couple games, but the first was most important. "We'll do Capture the Flag."

"Awesome, great. We'll get teams picked and then I'll show you guys to the arena."

"I'll pick one team. Alix, you pick the other." He held up his fist in the classical symbol for rock-paper-scissors, and a quick best-two-out-of-three later, Alix had the first pick.

"Hmm… Ivan!" She declared, and the tall, quiet boy sauntered over next to her.

"Fine by me. Max, my man!" Kim declared, and his best friend snapped his suspenders and walked on over."

"Mylene."

"Hmm… Nino!"

"Marinette!" Alix responded, and the part-time superhero strolled over to Alix, fingers crossed. She wasn't certain she could bring herself to do her best in ruthlessly crushing Adrien if he was on the other team.

"Grab my boy Adrien, Kim." Nino suggested, but Kim pointed at Alya instead. "Aww, why n- Ow!" Nino rubbed his side where Alya had elbowed him. "What was that for?"

"Adrien!" Alix called out, and Marinette quietly decided there was, in fact, some kind of higher power out there. ...Well, aside from Tikki.

"Ready to kick some butt, Mari?" Adrien asked her as he joined their side, and she could only nod giddily.

Kim took Juleka, Alix snapped up Nathaniel, and Rose strode over to her goth best friend as the last member of Kim's team.

"Can we choose Team Names?" Adrien suggested, an idea that went over particularly well.

"Dibs on Team Ladybug!" Alya declared. Kim nodded approvingly, and Adrien frowned. He'd wanted to be Team Ladybug! After all, that pretty much meant by default that the other team was Team Chat Noir, and his Lady was infinitely cooler than he was.

"I guess that makes our name pretty obvious." Marinette mused.

"...Team Hawkmoth?" Nathaniel asked, and she nodded.

"Of course! After all, who else would it be right for Team Ladybug to do battle with?"

Adrien screamed internally.

Once Team Ladybug was decked out in green vests and guns, and Team Hawkmoth in purple, the staff member pointed to two doors on either end of the room. "The arena is a maze, so you'll have to go in through two separate ends so neither team gets to go through before the game itself starts. Just beyond each door, there's a flag on the wall in a little nook. Your objective is to grab the other team's flag team and bring it to your nook. If you get shot by the enemy team, you need to go back to your nook to respawn, and that will re-activate your gun and vest after thirty seconds. If you're shot holding the enemy flag, you have to put it down where you got shot. The game will start about sixty seconds after both teams enter the maze: A buzzer will sound and music will start. Any questions?"

Max raised his hand.

"Yes, you there?"

"Are we operating on a time limit?"

"Yes, yeah. If neither team has captured the enemy flag in twenty minutes, the game is declared a tie."

"Or in other words, everyone loses." Alix said. "Oh, I need somewhere to put my stuff… Not gonna risk breaking my watch again."

"Yeah, you can put cellphones, watches, bags, etc in those cubbyholes over there." The staff member directed, and the assembled teenagers briefly dispersed to put away their odds and ends.

Marinette paused. She should have thought of this earlier! Of course she couldn't bring her bag inside with her… And she couldn't risk opening up her bag to let Tikki re-enter her miraculous with everyone around. Nor could she wait for everyone else to go inside, they'd just wait for her.

Adrien watched her, curiously. Why did Marinette look so frozen all of a sudden? She looked worried about something. "Is everything alright?" He asked. She seemed to be looking at her bag pretty intently. "If you're worried about your things, you shouldn't be! I'm sure they take very good care of things here. I doubt Alix would leave her watch if she had any doubts, so you're probably just overthinking things."

"I'm, um, not! I mean, I'm not worrying about my bag getting stolen or anything." Marinette explained. She stuffed her bag quickly into the cubby, a little more hastily than she had meant to. She winced. Hopefully Tikki hadn't helped that. "Just zoned out for a second, and I guess I was kind of concerned I'd need something in there on short notice."

"Oh." Adrien cursed himself internally for jumping to conclusions. There he goes, trying to solve problems that don't exist. He should stick to akuma, he decided. "Is it something important?"

"Um... Not important enough that I need to worry about it for an hour or two." Marinette said, heading towards the door. If she really needed to grab Tikki quickly in the event of the akuma attack, it was only a slight delay. That'd just give time for her trusty backup to arrive, anyway. The less time either one of them spent fighting solo, the better. "Well, see you in a sec!" She blurted out, heading for the door.

Adrien didn't follow right away. For some reason, he couldn't help but glance at Marinette's bag. He supposed that was a benefit of being a boy and not carrying around a purse. He'd probably keep Plagg in there, like he did his school bag. Of course, he'd only have to reach into the bag to pull Plagg back into the ring if he had to leave his bag somewhere. He'd hate to be Ladybug in a situation like this! She'd look like a weirdo, holding her bag right up to her head.

Thankful for the fact his kwami was resting snugly in his pocket in case of akuma attack, Adrien hurried over to the rest of his team, and together they entered the maze.

The decor was much like they expected. High walls covered in black felt, floors covered in dark shaggy carpet. Bright blue neon lines zig-zagged across the ceiling, dimly illuminating the area.

"Alright, class rep. What's the strategy?" Alix said, a feisty grin on her features. Marinette was taken slightly aback. Alix was looking for her for a plan?

"Well, I don't wanna boss anyone around…" She said, looking around at her friends in the dark room.

"Remember the Darkblade attack?" Mylene said. "You took charge then and it really helped! We don't mind."

"You _are_ class representative for a reason." Nathaniel agreed. "Plus, I'd… rather have instructions here."

"Well, if you guys say so…" Marinette said. She put her hands on her chin, thoughtfully, and examined the maze. The nook with the flag sat right next to the door. The hall extended about fifteen feet in either direction, left and right. It then sharply cut forwards, but the turn in the hall provided natural cover.

"Okay. If both teams just guard the flags with full force for the whole game, things will go in a stalemate. Kim's smart enough to know that, and he's going to want to go full-offensive. Chances are… Chances are he's going to go to his right, since he's right handed. Which means… Guessing that there's probably a criss-cross pattern, that means he'll probably come out on our right. He's probably going to want five of them to go with him, meaning he'll leave one person with the flag. We probably want to play defensive. Four of us guard our right flank, two on the left. Once we take out their initial wave, we play hard. Those four hurry forward and push. They'll be following them right back to the enemy base, so Team Ladybug's minds will be focused on them. Meanwhile, the two on the left will have already gotten a move on towards their base the moment they engaged, which should give them about a minute above the enemy team. If the two on the left- We'll call them Sub-Team Moth, the team of four is Sub-Team Hawk- don't run into dead ends, they should be able to get the enemy flag and get it at least out of the enemy nook. Got it?" Marinette said, running out of breath by the time she was done.

Everyone else could only stare in amazement. When they'd asked Marinette for a plan, nobody had been expecting anything that detailed. Had she spent a summer at a military camp without telling anybody?

Adrien in particular was floored. That kind of strategy was almost on level with the plans Ladybug whipped up when she used Lucky Charm, and he kind of figured his partner must spend her free time blindly clicking around Amazon and coming up with plans for whatever it threw at her. This was a different situation, sure, but the principle was the same. Also, thinking about it, he'd have to suggest that to Ladybug the next time they patrolled. Maybe they could do it together, as a team building exercise! That'd be fun.

"Uh...Yeah." Ivan said, scratching his head. "Who's Team Moth?"

"It should probably be the two fast-" Marinette began.

"You and Adrien." Alix cut in.

"Ivan and Adrien? Not who I was going to suggest, but this isn't a dictato-" Marinette began, open to hearing everyone's ideas.

"Uh, no, you and Adrien."

Marinette opened her mouth. She hadn't yet figured out whether that was to eagerly agree or bashfully protest when the buzzer rang, signaling the beginning of the game. Adrenaline-pumping techno music began blaring through the loudspeakers scattered throughout the arena, and her chance to speak up was lost as her teammates hurried to cover the left side. She caught Adrien looking at her and flushed a little. At least should could pass that off as just being warm, she thought. It was pretty stuffy in the arena.

"Well, let's go!" Adrien said with a boyish smile, hurrying over towards their assigned location with a steady jog. Marinette nodded, even though he couldn't see her, and joined him hiding behind the corner.

"That was a really good plan, you know, Mari." He said as she reached his side. Although if he'd learned anything, it was that even the best of plans fell apart at first contact with the enemy. At the very least they'd need to be adapted. Still, it was only a game and he was honestly pretty certain he'd do fine without a plan anyway. If he could save the city of Paris on a nearly-daily basis, he could handle this.

As it turned out, Adrien was correct in assuming things wouldn't be quite so easy. He and Marinette were peeking down the corridor when a blonde quiff of hair and dark brown eyes darted out from the other end. It was Kim, and as soon as he and Adrien locked gazes, the asian boy pulled his head back.

"We've got hostiles!" Adrien called out dramatically.

"At least a hostile, anyway!" Marinette called out. She'd been so certain that Kim would be coming in the other direction. "Any contact, Team Hawk?"

"Uh… Negatory?" Nathaniel said, checking the other corridor again. "Should we come over there?"

"Not necessary. Stay frosty." Adrien said, his excitement clear in his voice. "We've got a stalemate for now."

"Come on out, guys! Don't just camp there! Don't worry, you can take me on, right?" Kim goaded from the other end, nothing more than his eyes and pointy hair visible so far. "It's just little old me."

"We're not falling for tha-" Marinette began, but she sensed movement behind her and all of a sudden, Adrien was darting forward.

"Cover me, Mari!" Adrien called out, leaping forward with a swiftness that felt familiar to Marinette. He was an open target as he scurried forward, and Kim positioned his gun to open fire, two more light rifles appearing at his side from unseen team-mates: Alya and Nino, judging by their arms.

Marinette acted quickly, however. Guns were a valid target, and they were focused entirely on her kit- On Adrien. The comparison only flickered briefly in her mind, just because she was so used to Chat Noir acting as a distraction for her. In an instant, she took aim, and there was a beeping noise as Kim's gun was deactivated. In another half second, she hit Alya as well.

Nino would have gotten him, however, had Adrien not abruptly fell forward, straight to the ground, taking aim and firing at his best friend as Nino fired above him, reaction time not quick enough to register the blonde's movements.

"Dammit! Get them, guys, they're wide open!" Kim called out to his team as he, Alya and Nino frantically back-pedaled to allow whoever else was with them to get in position. Marinette took the opportunity to scurry forward, getting closer to Adrien and crouching down to stay a smaller target in the tight quarters.

"Team Hawk, move, move!" She called out, and she could hear them break into a jog as they hurried down the other corridor. At least some of them. It seemed like someone had stayed behind: Not Ivan, because his heavy footsteps were distinctive heading down the other hall, but Marinette only heard two other sets.

It took another minute or two before she and Adrien took out Juleka and Rose, who were rather more cautious than the other three. That left Max unaccounted for, but they didn't have time to worry about that. Adrien had taken a shot from Juleka, and Marinette waited for what seemed like a very long thirty seconds as he jogged back to the nook and waited for his equipment to be reactivated. She supposed it was a consequence of working with Chat for so long, who usually had a recovery time of about a thousandth of a millisecond. Seriously, not even being turned into a human (or feline) pinball by Climatika had kept him down for more than an instant.

"Nathaniel is guarding the point." Adrien informed Marinette as he returned. Through the pounding electronic music that echoed through the neon-coated halls, they could hear the rest of their friends yelling, cheering and whooping in the maze. "Shall we get a move on, Mari? We've got a flag to capture, after all." He gestured onward, into the unknown recesses of the maze, and Marinette followed him as he ventured into it.

The game broke out into utter chaos shortly thereafter. The maze was surprisingly complex, full of twists, turns and dead-ends, and there really wasn't much time for complex plans or team meetings in laser tag. Marinette and Adrien mostly stuck together, finding to their mutual pleasant surprise that working together came naturally to them. Occasionally, they'd run into a team-mate in the maze, but aside from Alix they usually fell prey to enemy fire in short order.

Once or twice, Adrien was taken down and Marinette was forced to venture on without him, but he rejoined her quickly when he didn't have to stay behind to guard the flag. The model realized after the first time he managed to track her down far away from where they had separated that he almost had some kind of supernatural sense for finding her. It was strange, he found the same thing happened with Ladybug whenever an akuma attack began and they arrived on the scene in nearly the same spot. He figured that maybe he just had such s _purr_ erb teamwork skills that they carried over.

Marinette, meanwhile, was on a power high. She felt undefeatable. Indestructible! Like a goddess of war! She couldn't be touched, and anyone who got in her line of sight fell before her. This was second nature to her! Maybe she had an unfair advantage being a superhero, but dammit, it wasn't her fault if this was one of the perks of accepting that responsibility.

Still, she'd never felt so much like Ladybug in her civilian form before. At one point, she'd glanced down at her gun to tap the reload button and felt a flicker of surprise when she'd seen her bare fingers instead of red spandex. Or whatever her suit was made out of, she wasn't entirely sure.

She and Adrien, joined by Mylene and Ivan, were the first players to get their hands on either of the two flags. Ivan had managed to snatch it and as the four of them started jogging away from the enemy base, they heard footsteps approaching from the other direction.

"Go on." The tall boy said, stuffing the flag into Marinette's hand and then pointing down another tunnel. "Take a left, right, left and that will bring you to that big cross-section in the middle. I'll hold them off."

"We'll hold them off!" Mylene said cheerfully, and Ivan smiled at her. As Mylene climbed up to sit on his shoulders so the two could become an unstoppable, loving juggernaut of death, neither Marinette nor Adrien could hold back a smile.

"Godspeed." Said Adrien.

"God bless." Said Marinette, and they took off running. As they fled, they heard Ivan and Mylene cackling madly. They thought they heard Kim and Max screaming in terror, too.

Once they'd gotten their hands on the flag, the game was practically over. Nobody could touch them. Adrien fell into a hot streak of excellent marksmanship, taking out every single foe they came across before they could even raise their guns are Marinette. She had to admit, having him protecting her, even in the context of a game, gave her butterflies in her stomach. It was nice to be protected and not be the one busy protecting the city. Although she didn't like how Chat Noir was always trying to protect her while she was suited up, but her distaste for that came from the feeling in the pit of her gut that it was because he viewed himself as more expendable as her. This was just good, healthy fun. Plus, Adrien was cuter. Not that Chat was cute to begin with! ...Not that cute, anyway.

They caught sight of Kim grinning and Alix cursing as they turned the corner towards their base, the red-hoodie clad boy waving their flag victoriously as he turned the corner. He hadn't noticed them returning with his flag, and once they placed his flag in their nook and the music died down suddenly, they could instead hear Kim cursing as Alix cheered.

Marinette held her fist out to Adrien without thinking about it, and he had done the same. "Pound it!" They cheered, smiling breathlessly at each other, hearts pounding as their breath rate slowed. They'd be running pretty much constantly since the game started.

"Victory for Team Hawkmoth! Alright, everyone head on out and we can get started on the next game." The employee said over the loudspeaker.

The three of them headed out through the exit door and were joined not too long after by the rest of the class. Marinette couldn't help but notice everyone besides Adrien and her were still breathing particularly heavy, and even seemed a little sweaty. Why had the two of them caught their breath so quickly?

She was pulled from her thoughts by Kim speaking up. "Alright, I think we need to adjust our teams."

"Mad 'cause you lost?" Alix teased. Kim crossed his arms.

"Mad 'cause you didn't contribute? Let's face it, Adrien and Marinette kicked our asses." He said, defensively.

"Well… We could go on different teams next game?" Adrien suggested. He noticed Marinette looked a little crestfallen as he spoke, and he quickly continued. "Just f-for fairness sake! Not that I didn't really enjoy playing alongside you, Mari."

Marinette did her best to put up a quick smile. "Of course, yeah! I didn't think-"

"I have a better idea!" Rose cut in, eager to continue Operation Wailing Alpaca. "Why don't we play a game with Adrien and Marinette on one team, and everyone else on the other?"

"That actually seems fair!" Alya said, quickly. "They're waaaaay better than any of us at this game."

"Hold on, w-wait." Marinette said. "That'd mean one of us would have to guard the flag and one of us would have to hunt down yours while _twelve_ of you are after us. I don't care how great you guys think we are, we'd get creamed."

Adrien nodded, a tad reluctantly. He was certainly up for the challenge, but he suspected Marinette might mind if the two of them made fools of themselves and he wasn't keen on forcing her to embarrass herself.

"Oh, come on. What if we played elimination? Then you just have to gun us all down." Alix suggested. "Totally viable, not that you'll be able to take us down."

"Well…" Marinette began. She was starting to consider the idea. After all, that sounded a lot more reasonable, and she did really enjoy looking so good in front of Adrien. Besides, could it really hurt? Maybe they'd learn more in defeat than they would in victory. Maybe that would include Adrien learning that he'd secretly been harbouring deep, squishy feelings for Marinette all year.

"I should probably mention," began the tattoo-covered employee, sounding like this was the most interesting group he'd had in awhile, "that we can do handicaps like giving one team infinite ammo or more lives than the other."

The group, Adrien included, looked to Marinette. She turned her head back and forth, catching pleading faces all around, and she gave a not-so reluctant sigh. "Alright, I'll do it." Marinette said. "But on my terms. Infinite ammo for me and Adrien, three lives for each of you, six lives for us. That still gives you guys a…" She pursed her lips, doing the math.

"Twenty-four life advantage." Max said, adjusting the rim of his glasses. "Nothing to sneeze at."

"Exactly. Everyone agree to that? Is that doable?" She addressed the first question to her class, the second to the venue employee.

Needless to say, they were shortly led to another arena for this high-stakes game. It was a wide open room, full of barricades, blocks, boxes and other assorted forms of cover. In the middle of all this there was a circular, waist high circles of barriers in an erratic shape with a roughly fifteen foot diameter. Marinette and Adrien were allowed to begin the game there, the rest of the class spreading out behind various forms of cover located behind a starting line, painted yellow on the floor, that spanned the room. Everything in the room was colorful and brightly lit, a heavy contrast from the dark neon room they played the last game in.

"You ready for this, Marinette?" Adrien asked, glancing over his shoulder. He was bouncing with energy. This was partly because he thrived when challenged, but it was also just because this was the most fun he'd had in his life outside of being Chat Noir, and certainly the most fun he'd had during a social activity! He was at a party! He was playing laser tag with his classmates! Not just his classmates, but his friends, even if he wasn't very close to some of them! The only way this day could get any better was if Ladybug was there.

Marinette glanced back at him and privately wondered if the sugar from the ice cream had only just now hit his system. Where had this come from all of a sudden? Sure, Adrien had been energetic and eager during the last game, but it was suddenly like he was a different person. Of course, people didn't always act in a logical and consistent nature, especially when it comes to emotions. Had he needed a warm-up session to break out of his calm nature? Was his calm

nature something he broke out of? She resolved to ponder that further, but with the clock ticking down to the start of the second game, it really wasn't the time. "I was born ready." She confirmed.

If the first game had been chaotic from a few minutes in, the second was pandemonium from the get-go. Of course, the class could have tried to just rush Adrien and Marinette in a unified charge and overwhelmed them with sheers numbers, but what would have been the fun in that? No, it was every man for themselves, all of them vying for the prestige that would come with taking down the Queen and King of laser tag on their own terms.

This lack of teamwork made them ultimately easy pickings for the two oblivious superheros, who once again quickly fell into the kind of practiced camaraderie that can only be developed by playing laser tag alongside your secret love who is even more secretly your supervillain battling partner, to the point that you don't even know that that's who they are. They took down player after player in a blaze of simulated glory.

But as tradition and logic dictates, the most dramatic part of any battle is the end, and this fact held true. Although they had held off their classmates for ten minutes, their defences were ultimately breached by Alix and Nino coming in from the left while the two of them eliminated the last of the players on the right.

"Hands up. This is the end." Nino announced. Marinette and Adrien turned around, slowly, weapons in the air. Alix and Nino grinned widely, enjoying what they thought was certain victory, dragging it out.

"You guys did a pretty good job, but you just couldn't hold up. You're both on your last life, and we can pull these triggers faster than you can take aim." Alix bragged. Adrien blinked. He still had two lives left: Alix had miscounted. Which meant they still had a chance.

"Marinette, take them down!" Adrien called out as he pivoted on his heel, catching Marinette in an embrace, covering her body from their line of sight with his own. Marinette dropped her weapon to her hip and popped off two shots at Nino and Alix even as they fired on Adrien. In a instant, all three of them were eliminated, but Marinette was still in the game. She and Adrien had won!

"Oh hell yeah!" She cheered, hugging Adrien tightly. The blonde boy squeezed back. They held the embrace for a good few seconds, celebrating their victory before Marinette's brain caught up with her body. She was hugging Adrien! Adrien was hugging her! She and Adrien were hugging!

Before she could spiral into panic mode, however, a powerful shaking sensation rocked the arena. Both Adrien and Marinette could feel the other clutching them, protectively tightening their grip as what felt like an earthquake swept over them.

The shaking sensation was followed by an impossibly loud noise they quickly identified as the sound their laser guns made, only amplified to super high value. Some of their friends screamed, and both of the heroes felt a sinking feeling in their gut.

Finally, after a second of waiting with baited breath, they heard a voice over the arena loudspeaker "Everyone stay calm and come out of the arena. One of the other guests appears to be akumatized."

There was a moment of silence.

"...fucking knew it." Nino huffed.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hey, I'm sorry that this chapter took so much longer than the others, comparatively speaking! I've been awfully busy lately. Plus, I'll be frank, this chapter didn't come very easily to me. It's not quite as long or detailed or smoothed out as I'd like, but I don't think holding back on it would improve the quality that highly. On the bright side, I actually re-read this chapter for once, so hopefully there should be less typos or inconsistencies.**

 **I'd also once again like to thank everyone who has commented on this fic or on How the Cat Naps, which was published since I released Chapter 3 of this. Your support means a lot to me and it really inspires me to keep writing! Just to quickly address one guest comment: Yeah, I know that the second match in Chapter 3 wasn't highly detailed and perhaps could have benefited from an extension. I personally felt like I didn't want to drag the chapter out with excess filler, but I appreciate your point of view and the constructive criticism. If anyone else feels like I should make things a bit longer, feel free to let me know.**

 **Anyway, enjoy the chapter! There should be one more chapter after this. Maybe two. After that, onto the next fic!**

Ordinarily, Marinette would be proud of her classmates for their ability to take crisis situations and emergencies with such calm attitudes. However, the kind of cavalier apathy with which they filed back towards the locker room was kind of frustrating. Akumas were serious business, and even if they were old hat for the citizens of Paris at this point, she felt a _little_ more concern was warranted.

"I wonder what happened?" Rose mused, bringing her hands together and glancing around with her usual cheerful air as they strode out of the arena.

"Probably exactly what we expected to happen: Someone lost at laser tag and was such a sore loser they transformed into a giant monster." Kim said, hands on his hips. He started whistling nonchalantly as they headed towards safety. Marinette knew she should hurry up with her excuse and run-off, but she had to go get her bag from the lockers and running in there ahead of everyone else was definitely not the way to set an example as class representative!

"I'm not so sure. That seems too similar to my… "incident"." Max said, finger quotes and all. "Hawkmoth tends to be a little more spread-out in selecting akuma victims with proper motivations."

"I don't think he's going to look a gift horse in the mouth, though." Mylene said, grimacing. She shuffled a little closer to Ivan, who laid a hand protectively on her shoulder.

"And Copycat and Antibug were pretty similar in theme." Ivan added. "At least as close as two sore-loser akumas would be."

"Both Kim and I got upset about, um, being teased for crushes." Nathaniel said with a blush. "There's only so many blanket-reasons someone can get upset."

"Yeah! Honestly, I'm surprised Hawkmoth only ever sends out one akuma at once. I guess that must be all he can manage." Alya said, finger resting thoughtfully on her chin.

"Nah, babe, didn't you know that only one person gets to be sad in Paris at a time?" Nino joked, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

"We French are a stoic lot indeed." Alix said dryly. She stopped in front of the door, holding it open for the rest of the class.

"Thank you, Alix." Juleka mumbled politely as she and everyone else crossed the threshold in what Marinette suspected was a world record for _slowest time for ten people to move five goddamn feet ever._ Wait. Ten?

Marinette glanced behind her, and caught sight of Adrien headed in the opposite direction. "Adrien!" She called out. Was he trying to head towards the akuma? What was he thinking? "Come on, this way!"

"Uh… WASHROOM SORRY NATURE CALLS BE BACK SOON!" Adrien called out. He smiled sheepishly at Marinette, fired off a couple finger guns, and bolted for the door. Unfortunately, however, it wass a PULL door. He'd been expecting a PUSH door, so unfortunately, the blonde model ran smack dab into it with a yelp. He groaned, suddenly knocked onto his ass, and glanced back towards his classmates. Marinette and Alix were staring at him dumbstruck,and it looked like Marinette was just about to come towards him.

Hurriedly, he scrambled to his feet. "I'M GOOD HAHA DON'T MIND ME." He called out, swinging the door open and closing it behind him with a slam. Whew. He could hear Plagg tittering with laughter inside of his pocket.

Instead of the hallway he was expecting to find himself in, he found himself in someplace very dark. That was fine by him: Privacy to transform immediately, and once he did, he'd be able to see with his night vision. "Plagg, transform me!" He called out, although he tried to keep his voice low in case he wasn't alone. There was the usual quick flash and he was back in his uniform, his second skin.

He was also, to his utter dismay, in a janitor's closet. He groaned: He really should have read the sign on the door before darting inside. There were brooms, mop buckets, and detergents aplenty, but no doors besides the one he came in through. Well. This could be _cat_ astrophic if he doesn't play his cards right.

One one hand, if he burst out of the room too soon, Marinette and Alix might still be waiting outside. On the other hand, if he stayed inside for too long, they might wonder why he failed to notice he'd ran into a janitor's closet as opposed to a bathroom. Or maybe they were just walking up to the door anyway and he was going to be revealed as Chat Noir in short order.

Oh well. Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't. He pushed open the door, diving into an over the top combat roll and smoothly coming out of it into a graceful bow. His gaze flitted from side to side. All clear? All clear. Internally praising the universe for his uncharacteristic burst of good luck, he headed for another door that he was fairly sure would **actually** take him towards the akuma. He hoped.

Meanwhile, thankfully for her feline partner, Marinette had decided that she unfortunately didn't have all the time in the world to keep an eye on Adrien. She'd ushered Alix along with her into the locker room and tried to dart towards her stuff, but the perpetually nameless employee held up his hand in the universal "be quiet and listen to me" signal.

"I know you're probably all eager to get your stuff, but we need to evacuate quickly. The akuma seems to want to destroy the facility. All your stuff will be there when this is all over, even if it gets broken, since Ladybug will fix all the damage. If it's not, Leroy Brothers Action Tag Company will compensate for all damages."

"Wh-what? That's dumb! It'll only take a second." Marinette protested. To her surprise, her classmates looked at her like she was being unreasonable.

"Hey, safety first, girl. It can wait." Nino said, shrugging. "I want my stuff too, but whatevs, it can wait til Ladybug and Chat Noir kick some ass."

Marinette stuffed her face into her hands. Could her friends really be more inconsistent? Walk as slowly as possible to the locker room, but then agree one hundred percent with the guy who was keeping them from getting their stuff? They were teenagers! They were supposed to be obsessed with material objects! Surely someone cared about their bags! She couldn't believe she was thinking this, but at least if Chloe were here, she'd be putting up a fuss.

"Nope, sorry, can't wait! Need my bag!" Marinette called out,swerving past the tattoo-coated employee and pulling open her locker.

He sighed, crossing his arms. "Look, Miss, I know it's a controversial policy but what's the big deal?"

"Yeah, Marinette. You're not acting like yourself." Mylene said, fraught with worry. "Why do you need your bag so badly?"

"Ladyb-" Marinette blurted out, before hastily correcting herself to the best possible excuse she could think of with what she'd said. "Lady problems! LADY PROBLEMS WHOOPS BYE SEE YOU LATER GUYS." Cringing internally, the black-haired heroine scurried out of the room at top speed. Behind her, she could hear a general wave of sudden comprehension washing over her classmates.

Five minutes later, Ladybug was leaping out the window and hauling ass up the side of the building. The akuma was colossal, about the size of The Gamer, and a distinct beige-green color, but that was about all she took in initially. Her first priority was to get to higher ground so she could fully assess the situation. That said, she couldn't help but grin as she noticed a black blur climbing up the building beside her out of the corner of her eye. She and Chat had been on a hot streak of reaching the akumas at roughly the same time lately, and she'd hate to see the trend die down. It was always nice when neither of them had to spend too much time running interference.

They came to a halt on the roof of the building, Ladybug turning around to get a proper look at their newest foe. While this akuma might be the same height as The Gamer, it was of a distinctly more humanoid shape: In fact, it looked almost like a regular person. The key word was almost. They were entirely a monochrome green color, the color of army fatigues. They actually looked just like a toy soldier blown up in size to the several hundredth power, cliche 1940s helmet and all.

Their gun, however, appeared more modern in nature. Futuristic, actually, as she quickly corrected herself. It was identical to the toy guns she'd just been using during the party, which was a relief. The last thing she needed was to fight to akuma who was using a real gun with real bullets. It didn't matter if she didn't really feel pain in the costume: Getting shot was getting shot.

"So, what are you thinking?" She asked Chat. "Too many first-person-shooters for this victim?"

"I actually just figured they must really love the opening scenes of Toy Story, my lady." Chat said with a chuckle. "That said, they're a bit anachronistic, don't you think?"

"That's a big word for you, kitty." Ladybug teased back as the two of them took off across the Paris skyline towards the akuma, who was lumbering away from the Leroy Brothers Action Tag Company at a moderate pace.

"You wound me. I'll have you know I'm _highly_ educated. I _purr-a_ ctically have a Master's degree in wordplay." Chat Noir responded, the two of them preparing to vault from one rooftop onto the shoulders of the akuma in a wordless plan, communicated only through wordless glances and a solid year of practice.

"No, no, no. You have a Master, singular. Me." Ladybug answered, and Chat made a choking noise. She grinned. He'd walked right into that one, and at this point, she could dish out the banter just as well as he could. "Now, let's see what's up with this guy. HEY! NAME AND RANK, SOLDIER." She called out to the akuma.

Instinct took over the akuma for a moment and Ladybug was a little bit stunned as instead of swiping at her or Chat, it raised it's hand to it's forehead in a salute. "Major Laser reporting for duty, Ma'am!"

"Of course…" Chat Noir groaned. "WHAT IS YOUR MISSION, SOLDIER?" He called out. Thank goodness this akuma seemed to be all brawn, no brains. And maybe a submissive streak. Huh, thinking about it, he could kind of relate to it.

"TO BE THE ROUGHEST, TOUGHEST SOLDIER THIS SIDE OF THE SEINE, SIR. I WILL NOT BE MOCKED OR CALLED A LOSER, SISSY, COWARD, ET CETERA FROM THIS DAY FORWARD."

"Is… Is that all?" Chat Noir said, furrowing his brow. "Because you're not facing much com- _paw_ -tition right now, you're winning that role by default. So hey, wanna detransform?"

"NEGATORY, SIR. GENERAL HAWKMOTH HAS GIVEN THIS SOLDIER THE DUTY OF ACQUIRING THE MIRACULOUSES AND THIS SOLDIER WILL NOT SHIRK HIS DUTIES, SI- ...Hey, wait, you have the miraculouses!" Major Laser responded. The akuma shook his shoulders in great, lumbering motions, sending Chat Noir and Ladybug tumbling down towards the ground.

Mid-air, Chat Noir's reflexes kicked in, and he scanned the area for a method of breaking his fall. He was taking aim with his staff in a desperate gambit within half a second, but before he could enact it, he felt something wrap around his leg and he was yanked through the air with a yelp.

Moments later, he felt himself sinking into something soft, his vision a field of white. For a moment he wondered if he was dead and he'd actually felt his soul vacating his body, but no. His vision refocused and he realized he was surrounded by pillows. He tried to claw his way towards the surface of this fluffy white sea, but it was no use. Thinking carefully, he aimed his staff down and extended it slowly. He heard a metallic clink as it hit the bottom of whatever pit of pillows he'd been dragged into, and then felt himself rising up towards the top.

He surfaced and glanced about frantically. He'd landed in a delivery truck full of pillows with a conveniently wide-open top. "Huh. I would've expected a garbage truck." He mused. "This is more Ladybug's lu-". Chat Noir's eyes widened. Ladybug had definitely cast her yo-yo at him to redirect his fall in here, but had she landed safely with him? "Ladybug? LAD-"

"I'm fine!" Her muffled voice called out, and he felt muscles he didn't even know he had relax from their tense state. He leaned over, reaching down towards into the pile of pillows to where he had heard her voice. Chat Noir felt her suit under his fingertips and slid his hand along it unconsciously, trying to find her hand and haul her upwards.

"Chat!" Ladybug called out quickly, as he felt her hands clasp around his wrist suddenly. "I know you might enjoy belly rubs, you weird furry, but I'm not so partial to them! Not to mention you're this close putting those paws somewhere they _really_ don't belong."

Chat Noir blanched, nodding feverishly despite the fact she couldn't see him. He hauled his arm back, pulling a very miffed looking Ladybug out of the soft abyss. "Sorry! I wasn't thinking, I would ne-"

"I know, I know." Ladybug said with a sigh. She followed it up with a sympathetic smile though, one that made it perfectly clear to Chat Noir that all was forgiven. "You'd never. Just try and be less impulsive and a little more… considerate next time. Now! Where were we with this military school drop-out?" Ladybug said, the duo turning their heads towards the akuma once more.

They were greeted with a cannon-sized barrel aimed directly at them, only thirty or so feet away. In an instant, their weapons were up, spinning in rapid circles as a desperate shield against the attack that came just miliseconds later. They both felt the shock of the laser impacting against their shields run down their arms as the truck exploded in a rain of stuffing, sending them both flying. They skidded and tumbled along the street, yelping, finally coming to a stop in two separate heaps.

With a groan, Chat Noir climbed to his feet, knowing that the two of them couldn't afford to stay still. Their agility was their number one advantage. Well, that and the ancient quantic god magic that kept them from feeling pain. Speaking of… He glanced at Ladybug, making sure she didn't have any visible wounds as his partner stood up. He caught her doing the same to him. There were a couple small rips and tears in her suit, bleeding only slight, but nothing major. He looked down, scanned his own body. Nothing major. Bruises that would ache later, but nothing life-threatening. The downside of not feeling pain was that sometimes, you couldn't tell if you were hurt or not.

They leapt away on instinct as Major Laser fired another earth-scorching beam of light, managing to dodge with no time to spare. "Let's be real, I don't think hand-to-hand is going to make much of a dent in this cyber-soldier!" Chat called out. "That giant gun of his has to be his where the akuma is hiding, Lucky Charm and we'll see what we can do!"

Ladybug nodded. Chat Noir was right, there was no time to dawdle and, frankly, none of their attempts at particularly complex plans prior to her summoning the Lucky Charm had ever worked out. It was better to take a stab at it now, especially given Chat hadn't been forced into a Cataclysm yet. He could run interference for at least some of the time it'd take her to retransform if worst came to worst.

With her usual confident cry of "Lucky Charm!", she activated her hidden power and tossed her yo-yo into the air. In return, she was gifted with perhaps one of the most powerful weapons a Ladybug ever had the honor of receiving.

"Is this a… what, a potato cannon?" Ladybug asked, eyes wide. She looked over the weapon, wondering if perhaps there was something more to it, but no, it was merely a potato cannon. A large one, at that. It wouldn't even qualify as portable if she didn't have superhuman strength while transformed.. Her head clear, she glanced around at the scene surrounding her...The pieces fell together quickly. The potato cannon. The barrel of Major Laser's gun. A large shipping crate labelled "PRE-ASSEMBLED TRAMPOLINE" that some delivery men had left on the street between her and the akuma as they fled in terror. Perfect.

"Chat! Destroy that crate!" She instructed, before taking a deep breath and charging towards it, weaving her way around another blast from the oversized akuma.

"I'd say that's normally a job for someone with 8.5 less lives than me, but as you say, my lady!" Chat Noir agreed as he activated Cataclysm. Internally, he felt a twinge of shame about how forced that joke was, wondering if Ladybug even understood the reference. Oh well. He leapt towards it, landing on top of the box and disintegrating it. He fell through onto the trampoline, getting launched into the air by the springy object.

Ladybug joined him in whistling through the air a moment later, and Chat Noir picked up on her plan. Clog the gun, and the next shot would cause a build-up of energy that would destroy the weapon. Simple but brilliant. There was one issue, however, that his heightened cat-like senses picked up on.

She was still lining up her shot. Major Laser's finger was squeezing the trigger. He'd get a shot off first, and it'd be a direct hit on his Lady. And that could not, would not happen. Unacceptable.

He flung his arms around her, catching her in an embrace for the second time today. "Ladybug, take him d-!" He was cut off by a burning impact in his back as he took a direct hit from Major Laser. It wasn't pain exactly, but it felt like his muscles were screaming through a gag. Numb. Like when you're at the dentist and you know the drilling should hurt, but it doesn't. His vision blurred, but despite that, he noticed a strange expression on his Lady's face. She'd never looked at him like that before. It was some kind of surprise, like she'd noticed something she'd hadn't noticed before. His grip on her loosened and he blacked out.

Ladybug fired. She wasn't thinking. If she allowed herself to think before the battle was over, she wouldn't be able to regain her senses anytime soon. So before she knew it, before she allowed herself to operate on anything besides instinct, before she tried to wrap her mind around what just happened, she'd defeated the akuma. Purified it. Let her "Miraculous Ladybug" repair the city. Thoughtlessly. Routine. As she let herself back into her own mind, turning and breaking into a frenzied run towards Chat Noir, she was vaguely aware of someone running out of the Leroy Brothers Action Tag Company building to help the victim. It might have been Alya.

She crouched down over him where he'd fallen onto the ground, lying on his stomach, stretched out in a tangle of limbs. The back of his outfit was burnt away, revealing pale skin that was quickly bruising and a sinewy back and shoulder blades that, at any other time, she'd be obsessing over. But there were no burns, none of the grotesque wounds that you'd expect. The suit had protected him. She breathed for the first time in maybe a minute. Chat Noir would be fine once he woke up.

 _Adrien_ would be fine. In that instant when he was hit, she'd realized who he was, without any doubts. Chat Noir had done the exact same thing he'd done during the game. Chat Noir had done the exact same thing when they'd fought Timebreaker. And Dark Cupid. He'd done the exact same thing that he would keep doing again and again, no matter how many times she woke up in tears from a nightmare about losing him and silently prayed that he'd stop treating himself like he was _fucking expendable._

Her earrings beeped, and Adrien's ring followed a couple seconds later. She'd never noticed his ring before. Of course she hadn't. She scooped up the unconscious boy carefully and let her yoyo fly, taking him up and over the rooftops.

Below, her class had filed out of the building and were watching her exit the scene, but she hadn't really registered their appearence. They were quiet. Nobody knew what to say. Ladybug hadn't even confirmed Chat Noir was alive before taking off.

Without words, a young boyfriend and girlfriend pulled out their cellphones, texting their conspicuously absent best friends to hurry up out of the washrooms. They were woefully unaware of the irony. Thankfully for Marinette and Adrien, neither Nino or Alya would have a chance to go looking for them before the two part-time heroes reappeared in civilian form.

But there was still much to happen between now and then.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm awfully sorry as usual for the long time this chapter took, but school has been kicking my ass because I'm just a poor little first-year English major. Anyway! You can skip this if you just wanna read the chapter, there's nothing super important. Otherwise, a few orders of business: So this chapter wraps up my first fic in years and my first fic in the ML fandom! I'm super hyped to have managed to finish this at a respectable 22k words and I could not have done this without all the positive feedback, so thank you all for each and every comment, kudo/like, etc! Thank you all so much!**

 **Secondly, don't worry, this isn't the end. I have a couple ideas for probable one-shots floating around that will hopefully manifest themselves once I've dealt with exams, assuming that Persona 5 doesn't consume my life-energy and leave me a** **desiccated** **husk once it comes out. Buuuut, if you want to help make sure I keep writing for this fandom, feel free to hit me up at .com and throw some writing prompts in my askbox. I can't** **guarantee** **they'll get written but it's certainly motivation for me! Thanks in advance, and have a lovely day everyone!**

She managed to make it to the rooftop of the bakery before her transformation dropped and she was just Marinette Dupain-Cheng, teary-eyed and clutching an unconscious superhero. She wasn't certain why she was crying, nor why her first instinct had been to bring the two of them to her own home. But Marinette pushed those thoughts away, because she didn't have time. She glanced out over the skyline, double-checking that nobody had seen her. She wasn't the only person in Paris allowed to occasionally take up residence on the tops of buildings, after all.

Thankfully, nobody was around, which was a small blessing. She shifted Adrien's weight to one side, crouching down to unlock her skylight. She hauled it open, then did her best to gently lower Chat Noir down onto her bed. There was one final, solemn, mournful beep from the Ring of the Black Cat, and suddenly Adrien was there in her bed, eyes shut, a little black cat kwami floating next to him for a moment before settling down tiredly on Adrien's chest..

Tikki, who had been hovering next to Marinette since she'd detransformed, was the first to speak. "Marinette, this is Plagg. Plagg, I'll go find some cheese. Please be nice." She floated off and phased through the floor before Marinette could respond, but it wasn't like she was going to object. After all, she'd only need Tikki to stay if…

"You're not going to turn back into Ladybug before he wakes up?" Plagg said, opening his eyes and giving her a look she couldn't quite identify. Marinette, not having met him before, was unaware of how uncharacteristically calm he was. She pursed her lips, sat down gingerly on the edge of her bed, and shook her head.

"Huh. You're letting the cat out of the bag out of, what, pity?" Plagg asked. Marinette swallowed hard. _Was it pity?_ She'd learned who he was, sure, but she'd protected her own identity for so long. She could always blindfold him so he wouldn't recognize her room, and retransform. Nothing was forcing her to reveal her identity in return. But…

"I…" She sighed deeply, fingers grabbing her blankets and clutching them tight. "No. No, it's not pity. It's only fair he knows who I am. And the way this turned out…" She gazed up, through the skylight, at the deep blue sky. "The way this turned out, maybe it was supposed to happen like this. All along."

"Mm." Plagg grunted, and Marinette sat there in silence for a few moments, trying to figure out what she thought of him, when he spoke up again. "Maybe it ain't my business to say, but he loves you, you know. Had you figured that out?"

Her chest tightened and she averted the scrutinizing eye of the quantic god. "When you say that… When you say that, you mean Chat Noir loves _Ladybug_." Her voice was barely above a whisper. "And that… I knew that. I rejected it out of hand, and I refused to think about it, but I knew it."

"Tch. Ladybugs, always thinking of yourselves as two separate people." Plagg said dismissively, and Marinette felt a wave of irritation wash over her. What gave him the right to be so rude? Did he treat Adrien like this?

"What's that supposed to mean?" She snapped, voice tighter and more vicious than she'd really intended.

"I live in Adrien's head when he's Chat Noir. I hear his thoughts, same as Tikki hears yours. And I can tell you, he's not thinking in terms of "Chat Noir loves Ladybug". No, with him, it's " _I love whoever she is"_. Plagg responded aloofly.

Marinette was still trying to process how to respond to that when a familiar voice suddenly filled the air. "Don't… Don't be such a dick, Plagg." Adrien said, tiredly. His eyes were still shut tight, but his head reached slowly up to his chest to gently scratch the kwami's back.

"Fine, see if I ever try to speak up on your behalf again." Plagg said, but he leaned into the petting nevertheless.

"Adrien… How do you feel?" Marinette asked, trying to keep her voice level. Adrien's head turned towards her, and Marinette could see his facial muscles twitching, but he kept his eyes shut tight.

"I've had better days, my lady. I'm _paw_ -fully sore, but a little R&R and I'll be fine to get out of your hairball." He said, shooting her a small smile that didn't seem to reach all the way across his mouth.

"Get out of my hairball?" Marinette said, slowly.

"Oh, surely you get that pun?" Adrien said in a taut voice. "If no-"

"I get it, Adrien, but you don't need to… to get out of my hair."

He was silent a moment before answering. "The way you're saying my name… Y-You're someone who knows me, aren't you, my lady?" He said thickly.

"I am." Marinette said. It was funny. Time seemed to run slowly as all hell when Adrien was speaking, and her brain ran wild trying to figure out what to say, but when it came time to answer him, the answers slipped out with no rhyme or reason.

"Does it…" Adrien bit his lip. "Does it change what you think of me? What you think of me in either p-persona?"

"I-it does." Marinette said. She was acutely aware of how flat her voice sounded, and she desperately wanted to make herself sound stronger, more reassuring. She wanted the tone of her voice alone to assure him he had nothing to worry about. But she couldn't make it sound right for some reason.

She realized a moment before it happened that he was about to start crying, and when the first tears slipped out from between his shut eyes ( _why wouldn't he open them?)_ it felt like her heart was about to burst.

"Don't hate me." Adrien said in a croaky voice that was maybe the most painful thing Marinette had ever heard. "I know… I know I'm a reserved, b-boring, sheltered mess out-outside of the suit and an obno-" He made a strangled noise at the back of his throat, and it was a second before he could keep speaking. "An obnoxious f-flirt who won't leave you alone and I promise I'll s-stop being a bother, I know yo-you're a better person than that but th-there's a point where people stop putting up with me and please, _please_ don't leave me."

"Adrien… K-Kitty, I don't…" Marinette took a deep breath, turning her whole body and grabbing at one of his hands with both of hers, squeezing it tight. "None of that i-is true and I'm not going to leave you. You're not boring. I… I adore Adrien Agreste, and more importantly... More importantly than that…! Chat Noir is my partner and my _best friend_. You've done so much for me, when I'm around you is some of the best times in my life even though we're usually fighting for our lives and I would do _anything_ for you! So… So please, for me, take a few deep breaths. And then look at me before we both start crying!"

Adrien nodded and sniffled, and Marinette watched as he took a few big, wheezing breaths and rubbed his forearm against his eyes until they were mostly dry. His facial muscles twitched a couple times, his expression plainly wracked with indecision. And then, suddenly, he was looking at her.

For a period of time that neither of them would be able to tell whether it was a second or five minutes afterwards, they were both quiet. Then Adrien spoke, his voice barely above a whisper.

"I...Can you be honest with m-me?"

She nodded. She didn't know what else to do.

"Are you… You've always seemed un-uncomfortable and distant. The gum thing… That first impression… Did you still hold that against me, or did you just… not like me very much?" He spoke slowly, in a way that told Marinette he was doubting whether he should say what he was saying even as he said it.

She kissed him. She didn't know what else to do.

His lips were softer than Marinette expected, and she could feel the hot tears streaking his cheeks making her own damp. His hand squeezed hers tightly as he stiffened in surprise, and quickly relaxed. Her eyes were shut tight, and she suspected his were as well, but she honestly couldn't say for sure. Marinette hoped they were. Wasn't it a bad sign if he didn't close his eyes?

The kiss only lasted a couple seconds before she pulled away, abruptly self-conscious. What if he hadn't wanted that? Was that selfish of her? She thought that maybe kissing him would make him happy, would make it clear that no, she absolutely did not hold anything against him and no, she wasn't leaving him any time soon. But was that an excuse?

"S-sorry! I shouldn't have, that wasn't, I just took adv-" She stammered out apologetically. But Adrien was smiling despite his wet face. He reached down to his chest, scooped up Plagg, and deposited Plagg on the other side of his own prone form. Tikki, who had just re-entered the room, floated over to Plagg with some cheese and cookies, settling down to enjoy her snack alongside her partner. She had the tact not to say anything.

"Co-Could you… Could you kiss me again?" He asked. Marinette paused for a moment, wordless, and then nodded. She leaned down and pressed her lips to his for the second time.

"...Huh." Adrien said, once they had broken apart again.

""Huh"?" Marinette responded. What was _that_ supposed to mean?

"Yeah. Huh." Adrien said. "I was surprised that it was even nicer the second time you kissed me."

She hit him with a pillow. She didn't know what else to do.

"Ow! What was that for?" He protested, grabbing the pillow and peeking up over it with wide eyes.

"Adrien " _Chat Noir"_ Agreste, if you _ever_ respond to me kissing you with a "Huh" again, I promise you it will be the last thing you _ever say._ " She fumed. "Honestly, you really didn't expect that? Because I expected better from Chat Noir. WHO RESPONDS TO A KISS WITH "HUH."? DO YOU KNOW HOW THAT COMES ACROSS?"

She was hitting him again and again with the soft, fluffy pillow of death by the time she was finished speaking. He was putting up a feeble defence, mostly just covering his face, and he was… Was he laughing?

She slammed the pillow down onto the bed one final time with a huff and turned away, crossing her arms. "...It's not funny." She said, in a feeble voice that caught both Adrien and herself off-guard.

"Marinette?" He ventured.

"It's just…" Her lip quivered, but she refused to let herself start crying. "I've h-had a crush on you since that whole u-umbrella thing your first day and now, here you are crying and I don't know w-what else to do so I kiss you and I'm te-terrified you're going to think I'm taking advantage of you or hate me because Marinette is so much weaker than L-Ladybug, and then you go and s-say something like that that makes it seem like you're just… casually trying to decide if it's worth liking me…" She said, her voice much shakier than she'd hoped.

"I'm… I'm sorry, Marinette." Adrien said, sitting up as best as he could manage and leaning around her to grab her hand. Marinette could feel the uncertain reluctance with which he laid his head on her shoulder. "I g-got so wrapped up in my own feelings, my own sadness, that I didn't think about your emotions. Just because you'd cheered me up didn't mean you weren't going to be going through some stuff of your own, and I failed to think about that, and I made everything about me. I'm sorry."

"It's fine. I-It's fine." She said, turning to look at him. He looked so goddamn sincere with those green eyes of his, searching her expression for forgiveness while somehow managing to reflect how guilty he felt for upsetting her in the first place. "I know it won't… won't happen again."

"I promise it won't." Adrien said with certainty. They were quiet for a moment after that, discomfort slowly fading away into a kind of blissful silence that can only be shared by two people who know beyond all shadows of a doubt that they are in love.

"...Hey, Marinette?" Adrien asked after a couple moments, shifting a bit in place to press a little closer to her.

"Yeah?" She asked, tilting her head at him curiously.

"Is it just me, or does a lot of stuff seem stupid and/or obvious in retrospect now? Like… The whole thing with Evillustrator and your quote unquote secret mission." Adrien said sheepishly.

"Oh, definitely." Marinette agreed with a pleasant hum. "If I'd had a little bit more self-control, I could've actually thought about why you'd take a shower mid-Akuma attack instead of just getting all flustered ever-" She cut herself off with a sudden blush, and Adrien smirked.

"Oh, do go on, my Lady."

"I'll hit you with the pillow again." She threatened. He leaned in close, whispering into her ear.

"I'm into that."

"Gross! Gross. God, you're gross. You are just… You teenage horndog. Horncat. I'll take my pure sweet innocent Adrien and my Chat Noir who's too smitten to actually say anything gross to his Ladybug back, please." Marinette demanded.

"Please, if you think I'm innocent, you should see the notes Nino and I pass in class."

"La la la, I'm not listening~" Marinette responded, holding her hands over her ears and shaking her head.

"Opinions, Marinette. We have deeply considered opinions. On _ladies_." Adrien said, poking her repeatedly in the shoulder. "...That said, you know, please tell me if anything I say ever makes you uncomfortable, I would never want to-"

She flicked him on the nose. "Disturb me or make me feel objectified, I know, I know. You stupid beautiful dumbass."

"...I'll take that, honestly." Adrien said. He was trying to think of something else witty to say when his phone went off in his pocket. He winced, fumbling to grab it and silence it before Marinette…

"Ooh. Someone likes magical girl cartoons." She teased. "Such a masculine ring tone."

"Shut up. We're basically both magical girls, it's thematically appropriate!" Adrien shot back. Finally managing to extract his cell from his pocket, he glanced down at the caller ID. "It's Nino. Did you tell anyone anything about where we… uh… are? When you ditched the party."

"Ummmm…" Marinette started. Her own phone started ringing. "That's probably Alya."

"Yeah, and that's also a superhero theme song, so don't call me black, you pot." Adrien paused. "That came out sounding more offensive than I intended."

He tapped the answer button while ignoring Marinette's snickering, tossing the phone up to his ear. "Hey, Nino! Yeah, I know I disappeared. Chat Noir? Oh no! I hope he's okay… Where am I? Well…" He shot a glance at Marinette, then smiled. "I ran into Marinette."

Her phone stopped ringing.

"Yeah, she's okay too. Actually… We're both better than okay. We, uh. We had a good talk and I'm fairly sure we're going to start dating now."

Her phone started ringing again. There was also a loud, sudden wall of noise that could arguably be called cheering audible from Adrien's phone.

"...The _whole class on speakerphone_? Thanks for the warning, man." He risked a glance at Marinette, who was currently raising a pillow threateningly. "Okay, everyone's going to Kim's for pizza and video games? Great. We'll, uh… We'll meet you there. No, don't wait up. I think Marinette has to beat me to death for talking too much first, so that'll hold us up. Bye!" He hung up quickly as he was greeted with white, fluffy rage to the face.

Once Marinette was done venting her feelings on Adrien's lack of tact through the new martial art she was considering dubbing _Pillow Fu_ , the two of them got ready to go, rousing their sleepy kwamis and quickly touching up their appearances to that they didn't appear too disheveled.

"Hold on, wait a second." Adrien said. "Can you turn into Ladybug first?"

"Uh, okay. Why?"

Adrien grinned widely. He'd waited ages for this moment. "I want to see your transformation sequence! You've gotta have one, right? Please tell me you go through the theatrics." If she didn't, he wasn't certain he could forgive her.

Marinette rolled her eyes. "Yes, of course I've got one, you colossal dork. And fine. But don't stare too much! It's embarrassing! Tikki, spots on!"

Adrien stared in awe as his pigtailed classmate-and-girlfriend became his pigtailed superhero-and-girlfriend. He debated whistling as her transformation came to a close, but figured that'd be a little much. "Jeez, Ladybug! That high-kick is really something! You really are flexible."

"Yeah, you hadn't noticed after a literal year of yo-yo slinging acrobatics on my part?" Ladybug said dryly.

"Look, that was like, a literal vertical splits. Definitely flashy!" Adrien argued. "Anyway, Plagg, claws out!"

"Hmm." Ladybug said, crossing her arms as Chat Noir emerged from the flashing lights that had just filled her bedroom.

"Well? _C'est magnifique, non_?" He asked, flexing.

"It's a little repetitive. You pull in tight, stretch out, your belt shows up… And then you pull in tight, stretch out, and claw at the air? Needs a little work." She critiqued. He looked a little crestfallen, then brightened up.

"Well, we'll just have to make sure our team transformation is extra-special!"

"Team transformation?" Ladybug asked. Chat Noir nodded eagerly.

"Well, we don't need to be totally alone to transform now, right? We can transform around each other, and we should totally have some synchronized posing. Maybe we can work in some backflips?" Chat Noir asked.

"Maaaaaybe. If you're a good kitty. Now, come on." Ladybug said, leaping up to the skylight. "We've got a party to crash! Or… attend regularly. Because we were invited and enjoy spending time with our friends."

"You fell into akuma bantering mode for a second there, huh, my Lady?" Chat Noir asked, following her up onto the roof. Ladybug elected not to dignify that question with a response as the two of them took to the Paris skyline, swinging over office building and apartment alike.

Of course, they weren't in the air more than thirty seconds before Chat Noir broke the silence. "Heeeeeyyy… Race you to Kim's?" He asked. Ladybug glanced back at him, pigtails whistling through the air, and grinned wordlessly before upping her pace.

"I'll take that as a resounding yes." Chat Noir quipped, before launching himself off the edge of a rooftop and rolling to break his fall several stories below.

There was cheering on the streets below them as they raced through the city. More than usual. Chat Noir was confused for a moment, wondering what exactly was warranting the extra public attention, before the realization brought a warm smile to his face: They were cheering for the fact he was okay. Alya had already circulated the news that he was more severely injured than usual, and the public was celebrating that he'd turned up good as new.

"This is what we fight for, you know." He mused to Ladybug in a breathy voice the next time he slipped next to her during their impromptu competition. "These people who believe in us. They're one of the many reasons I get up every morning."

Ladybug rolled her eyes and smiled good naturedly. "Getting caught up in sentiment, _mon minou_? And not even wholeheartedly. They're only one of many reasons?"

"Well, I'm counting your smile, your laugh, et cetera as separate reasons. Otherwise, it's pretty much just them and you." Chat Noir responded, briefly grabbing onto her waist as she swung across a gap in the rooftops to avoid falling behind.

"You know, that sounds a little codependent."

"I prefer to think of myself as co-dependable, y- OH SHIT, LOOK OUT."

Ladybug tore her gaze away from Chat Noir's stupid pretty face to find out that the two of them apparently had a blind date with a brick wall. Chat Noir grabbing onto her had caused her to misjudge the amount of slack she needed in her grappling yo-yo for this particular stunt.

"Oops." She whispered, before the two of them slammed full speed into the side of the building and went tumbling down to the ground below. They crashed against several different landings on the fire escape, a big leafy tree, and finally a slightly shorter tree before landing on the ground in a tangle of limbs.

"Did you…" Chat Noir groaned, wiggling his fingers and his toes to make sure nothing was broken. "Did you really just say "oops" just before colliding with a wall at like fifty kilometers an hour?"

"You don't want -ow- to go there, Chat Noir. You don't want to go there. You threw off my balance!" Said the superheroine from below him.

"You throw me off balance every time I see you, my Lady." Chat Noir said with a wink.

"I fucking hate you." Ladybug said before grabbing his shoulders and leaning up to kiss him. He fell into the kiss greedily, and they were a good ten seconds in before either one of them noticed a strange silence around them. It was quiet. Too quiet. They turned slowly to one side as they noticed two facts at the exact same time.

Number one: They had fallen on the middle of a sidewalk on the way to Kim's house. Number two: All of their friends from school, who had been on the way to Kim's house, were standing there and staring at them.

Ladybug reddened. Chat Noir grinned. Their classmates stared, and Alya hauled out her cellphone. She focused on the red-and-black jumble through the lens, and lined the shot up with expert speed, but just before she pressed her thumb to the button, a sense of familiarity at the sight before them shot through her and the red-capped boy standing next to her.

And as she was snapping the first of the many photos she would take of the two of them, Marinette and Adrien, Ladybug and Chat Noir, as a couple over the long and lasting relationship that would bring warmth and joy to the rest of their lives, she whispered something so quietly that nobody besides Nino could hear it.

"I fucking knew it."


End file.
